Ideas + Innovation = Impact
We partner with ambitious founders to launch and fund companies unlocking prosperity in Africa using technology.🌍 📍Lagos - USA
Venture Studio
9 out of 10 startups fail. We have enormous challenges in Africa that cannot be left to chance. The Venture Studio is our own intervention.We partner with ambitious founders to work 5-10 new ideas each year. We expect 3-5 of these to become their own spin-off companies with subsequent investor backing. We are currently ideating on the following themes: work job site 2.0, better artisan services, fintech infra, whatsapp/telco as a growth levers, built-in-Africa everyday SaaS, data-free services, community as a product and democratization of opportunity.Our value add to founders are first-money-in belief, product design strategy, GTM strategy, co-founder recruitment and generating subsequent investor interest.We are also open to discuss general impact opportunities in B2B, B2B2C, Fintech, eCommerce, job creation, future of work, edtech, healthcare, logistics, deep tech, blockchain and globally scalable saas out of Africa.Opportunity Criteria
Prosperity Tech or Prosperity Catalyst.
10m people impact volume.
Clear path to >$10m ARR value in 3-5 years.
Platform and Infrastructure Plays.We want to build ecosystems not ego-systems; so you, the founders are at the front and centre of the venture.Have an idea? Lots of domain expertise/operator experience with no idea? Reach out and let's talk.
Fund
Fast Forward selectively invests in scalable tech-enabled companies at pre-seed stage.Team Criteria
We love working with ambitious and hungry founders, top technology talent, experienced operators and repeat entrepreneurs. We love Ivy league grads as well as dropouts with a point to prove.We are very unlikely to invest in a team without a co-founder of African origin and have a bias toward founding teams with at least one female co-founder.It's important to state the obvious fact that not all people of Africa are black. We have and will continue to back Indians and Caucasians with roots in Africa as well.If you are a non-African founding team who wants to partner with us, we are more than happy to connect you with really great folks that might complement you.
Venture Studio Portfolio
| Company | What | Year | Entrepreneurs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bumpa | Shopify for Africa | 2020 | Kelvin Umechukwu, Tunji Opayele | Current |
| Altschool | Future Proof Skills College starting with coding | 2021 | Adewale Yusuf, Sultan Akintunde | Current |
| TalentQL | Connecting tech talent with employers | 2021 | Adewale Yusuf, Sultan Akintunde | acq. by Altschool |
| Dojah | KYC and Identity verification for Africa | 2021 | Tobi Ololade, Ayomide Oso | Current |
| Buzzline | Mobile OS for solo entrepreneurs | 2021 | Jay Osobu, Bayo Ajibade | Current |
Fund Portfolio*
Apata / Authentication infrastructure for Fintech issuers
Bumpa / Mobile OS for Online Sellers in Africa
Bank54 / Flexible Financing for African Fintechs
Casava / Digital Insurance Platform in Nigeria
Convoy (YC)
Cova
Electronic Settlements Limited
Juni
Kippa
Klump
Laskie
Learnam
Miapelenou
Moni / banking for mobile money agents / YC
Nguvu Health
Odiggo (YC)
Payday (Techstars)
Quabbly
Reliance Health
Rollout
Ropay
Veend
Venco
Verileum
Vesti
Yemaachi (YC)
*includes personal and syndicate investments of partners before fund launch
Team
We are founders and operators with experience launching and leading startups on the continent. This includes founding Jobberman, Africa's largest job site, launching Jumia Pay, and investing in over 50+ startups.Opeyemi - General Partner
Lara - Operating PartnerThat said, the founders we partner with are our biggest assets and we are only grateful that they chose us.
Contact Us
Are you ambitious and want to use technology to make a big impact in emerging markets? Do you have just an idea or a MVP with little to no traction? We would love to hear from you.And if you want to run a concept we're already working on, check out our venture studio page for broad themes and reach out for a convo.