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At a recent investor meeting, an early stage African investor Yes Capital announced that it has returned $4 million in its debut fund after selling some shares in its business banking platform to limited partners. Moniepoint.
The African fintech unicorn has so far proved to be an outstanding investment for five-year-old Oui Capital. When he launched his first fund, he invested $150,000 in a Nigerian-based company, an early bet that has since generated $8 million, enough to pay back the fund.
Specifically, Moniepoint last October It raised $110 million in funding at a cost of $1 billion In a Series C round led by Development Partners International, Oui Capital sold part of its stake in the deal; now, any future return on his fund repayments will be a net gain to his investors.
This is a rare feat for a young VC firm—many fail to return their first funding globally—and even rarer in Africa’s venture ecosystem. Still, it highlights how lucrative some early-stage bets can be on the continent, particularly in fintech. It joins other pan-African investors such as Oui Capital CRE VC and 4DX Ventures After backing other unicorns like Andela and Flutterwaveaccording to two people familiar with investor deals on the continent.
TechCrunch reached out to Oui Capital for comment, and the firm confirmed the news.
Moniepoint, formerly known as TeamApt, was not a household name when Oui Capital first reviewed it in 2019. At that time, the company primarily developed financial products and software for itself and banks.
Founded by Oui Capital Olu Oyinsan and Francesco Andreoliwas among its early investors and one of the few companies backing Moniepoint, a business banking and payments platform that has since become Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer.
“They’ve been with us every step of the way from product-market fit to production,” Moniepoint co-founder and CEO Tosin Enioluwadara said of Oui Capital in 2021. video. “Olu (Oui Capital’s managing partner) has been helpful in advising; we talk about strategy, management and key issues affecting the company. They have also been helpful in our investment campaigns, from pitching potential investors to sometimes just thinking around our story and positioning…”
Performances remain rare in Africa’s tech scene, With only 143 out of 2,971 venture deals According to The Big Deal, it has been leading to performances since 2019. Most startups are still in the early or growth stages – far from the maturity needed for significant exits. Unlike developed markets with strong M&A and IPO options, Africa’s tech ecosystem is still growing, leaving fewer startups ready to exit.
On the other hand, venture investments typically take 5-10 years to mature, so many Africa-based VC firms are still waiting for returns. For Oui Capital, that wait took five years. When the firm joined Moniepoint’s seed round, the company was valued at $12.5 million, according to an investor report seen by TechCrunch.
Anecdotally, smaller funds are easier to repay due to their size. Data Cambridge Associates, which builds and manages investment portfolios for institutional investors, bucks this trend.
But more importantly, Oyinsan credits the construction of his fund’s portfolio for attracting the firm to this day. “It’s not just about the size of the fund — it’s about what you invest in, your entry price, how much capital you have, how much you invest and when you decide to exit,” he tells TechCrunch.
Other startups in Oui Capital’s portfolio include DoubleDigitizing payment flows for African B2B businesses; Eartha B2B e-commerce platform for FMCG; and MatthewB2B marketplace for chemicals, from Mentors Fund 1, its first fund.
The investor is writing checks of up to $400,000 to seed-stage startups across Africa, with 22 startups across two funds.
In 2022, Oui Capital launched a second fund, Mentors Fund 2. Although an early stage firm initially targeted 30 million dollarsAccording to Oyinsan, it was closed for 12 million dollars. He also shared that the fund may raise a third fund later this year, although it does not intend to rush to raise funds due to its strong position.
