Innovate Africa launches with $2.5M angel fund for early-stage Africa-focused startups

Innovate Africa, an angel investment fund that supports early-stage founders in funding life-changing ideas, taking startups from conception to product and financing innovative ventures, has launched with an initial $2.5 million rollout. Co-founded by Kristin Wilson and Christian Idiodi, the sector-agnostic fund aims to support up to 20 startups in its first year to solve complex, recognised problems such as insecurity, unemployment, and poverty with purpose-driven technology.

Since 2019, the African funding landscape has witnessed positive growth, with disclosed exits surpassing $2.3 billion – representing a significant 13.4% of the total $17.2 billion raised by African startups. Despite this growth, early-stage founders face challenges navigating the path from ideation to market fit. The persistent lack of early-stage funding further compounds these difficulties, hindering many startups from reaching their full potential and contributing to the continent’s economic growth. With a mission to empower startups to thrive in Africa’s ever-evolving tech landscape, Innovate Africa Fund will provide insight-driven capital that helps founders accelerate the journey from Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to Product-Market Fit (PMF). The goal is to facilitate the infrastructure that enables founders to unlock growth through audacious problem-solving, supported by access to a comprehensive ecosystem of resources. 

With an average investment of $50,000, the venture fund offers a comprehensive support package designed to propel promising startups towards success. The robust suite of critical advisory resources includes expert guidance in finance, governance, public relations, and strategy, ensuring a solid foundation for growth. Through its Product Leadership Accelerator, the fund delivers crucial product development support, helping startups refine their offerings and achieve product-market fit. It also facilitates talent resourcing via an extensive partner network, connecting startups with skilled professionals across various domains. The fund’s portfolio strategy encompasses first cheque funding, a refined product operating model, valuable network and partnerships, assistance with revenue model iterations, and comprehensive operations and governance advisory. This holistic approach aims to accelerate startups’ path to success, providing them with the tools, resources, and connections needed to navigate early-stage challenges and achieve sustainable growth. 

Innovate Africa Fund is anchored by a network of experienced operators and product specialists across Africa, providing a vigorous foundation of knowledge and experience to guide early-stage founders towards success. Managing Partner, Kristin is also the Chief Strategy Officer at Spurt!, a Venture Partner at Oui Capital, an Investment Lead for the Rising Tide Africa Angel Network and a General Partner at the Bold Angel Fund. She has a portfolio of 34 African startups including 26 tech startups such as Hoaq, Clafiya, Shuttlers and OmniRetail–recognised as 2024’s Africa’s Fastest Growing Company by the Financial Times. Kristin’s portfolio companies have generated over $100m in revenue and collectively serve over 100,000 users.

Complimenting Kristin’s expertise is Christian, Founder of Firtsi and Work Nigeria. A world-renowned product expert, Christian is a partner at the Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG), and helps companies transform the way they work to create products customers love and brings immense value to the business. He is co-author of INSPIRED, EMPOWERED, LOVED and TRANSFORMED–New York Times Best-Selling books that have shaped product management globally. He has shaped companies like Amazon and Merrill Corporation, and tackled complex product challenges for industry giants like Microsoft, Interswitch, and Squarespace. His extensive background in enterprise and consumer products has helped scale businesses from the ground up. His track record includes successfully founding over two dozen companies worldwide.

Speaking about the launch of the Fund, Kristin Wilson, Managing Partner of Innovate Africa Fund said: “Having witnessed the struggles that early-stage African founders face up close, we know that brilliant ideas often lack the resources they need to truly thrive. It’s not just about funding, it’s about deep expertise and strong connections–and our investment strategy breaks the cycle of innovators being at the mercy of those with too much leverage and too little knowledge. As a founder-first catalyst fund, we provide insight-driven capital to help founders accelerate their journey from MVP to PMF. By providing this support and funding, innovators can focus their efforts on building sustainable, transformative businesses that solve wicked problems and return value to investors” 

“Through the Innovate ecosystem, we connect our portfolio companies with seasoned operators and advisors, both in Africa and globally, to ensure they get the expertise they need,” says Christian Idiodi, Founder of Innovate Africa Foundation. “The African diaspora has sent over $150 billion back to the continent in the past three years, but financial support alone isn’t enough. Many are eager to contribute their talent and expertise to impactful ventures, and that’s where we come in. It takes an ecosystem to build a startup. By reaching founders at a very early stage, we can connect them to key partners and help foster their success. Ultimately, our decisions today will shape who builds, owns, and benefits from the next wave of disruptive technology in emerging markets.”

Innovate Africa Fund is part of an ecosystem of companies, working together to empower Africa with meaningful technology. Through the fund, Innovate Founders will have access to the Product Leadership Accelerator, Pan-African Product Tours, InspireAfrica Gatherings, and Silicon Valley Product Group Coaching Programs. 

Applications are open for founders across Africa who meet the six criteria for screening: Character, Credibility, Capacity, Courage, Competence and Context. Interested founders can apply via https://innovateafricafund.com/