The Nairobi office of VC firm and venture builder Antler, has closed a $13.5 million fund to invest in early-stage tech startups in the region.
The oversubscribed round saw participation from Limited Partners including Baillie Gifford, a well-known Tesla backer along with family offices such as Canica; and institutional investors like the IFC.
Antler East Africa is a subsidiary of the parent company Antler, which was launched in August 2019. The early-investment firm has ever since made 14 investments including AIfluence, Marketforce-subsidiary Digiduka, Honeycoin, Uncover Skincare, Try Cooked and Vybe.
“We still do the venture building. That’s still the core of what we do. Just that now that the fund is closed, we have enough money to spend in existing businesses that are coming in.”
~ Selam Kebede, Director Antler East Africa
The firm earlier invested in new startups seeking funding rounds from Pre-Series up to Series C. With the acquisition of this funding, the firm can now invest in well established companies funding their growth and expansion.
Being a female-led VC team, Antler East Africa is particular about investing more in startups founded and led by women in the region. It further plans to improve the numbers from its venture building model, where 35% of the founders in its portfolio are women.
