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E-Financial

TLcom Secures First Close of $150mn Pan-African Tech Fund

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TLcom's Partners New (L -R - Maurizio Caio, Andreata Muforo, Ido Sum and Omobola Johnson)
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TLcom, the Africa-focused venture capital firm, has today announced a first close of $70mn for its $150mn Africa focused tech fund, firmly positioning the investor to become the largest independent VC firm fully dedicated to the continent.

With a first close in line with the total size of its TIDE Africa Fund closed in 2020, TLcom’s second fund sees participation from Allianz, the world’s largest insurance company, through AfricaGrow, its joint venture with DEG Impact (German Investment Corporation), as well as a host of new and returning investors including Bertelsmann, King Philanthropies, the TLcom team and FBNQuest from the private sector, and major DFIs such as CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution), IFC, Proparco and Swedfund. A second close of the fund is expected later in 2022.

With its new fund, TLcom will expand its existing focus on fast-growth, tech-enabled African startups to Egypt, as well as strengthen its long-standing presence across East and West Africa. With ticket sizes ranging from $500,000 – $15mn, TLcom expects to add an additional 20 early-stage startups to its portfolio with an emphasis on Seed and Series A stages and will target entrepreneurs tackling some of the continent’s most complex challenges in sectors including fintech, mobility, agriculture, healthcare, education and ecommerce.

Speaking on the launch of the new fund, Maurizio Caio, Nairobi-based Founder and Managing Partner at TLcom, says, “Since the closing of our previous fund, African tech has secured more high-value financing rounds, exits and M&As than ever before and this is only just the beginning.

“It is becoming increasingly evident that our sector has broken into a new era of maturity driven by very strong business fundamentals that African founders are demonstrating not only in the fintech space, but across a huge number of the continent’s largely underserved markets.”

“As we partner with some of the world’s leading global investors for our new fund, this is not only an endorsement of the massive value generation upside on the continent, but also of our proven track record in identifying and supporting entrepreneurs successfully winning and redefining Africa’s key verticals.

“In order to contribute to unlocking the next phase of Africa’s huge economic upside, we’ll be mobilizing our new fund to strengthen our partnership with African founders, with a special emphasis on female entrepreneurs, as well as our role as the leading local partner of choice for global VCs increasingly looking at Africa.”

The entrepreneurs supported by the TIDE Africa Fund have amassed huge traction in recent years with total revenues across its portfolio growing 3x since investment, over 2,300 jobs created and significant up-rounds secured with participation from leading global investors including Softbank, Owl Ventures and Index Ventures.

“To-date, TLcom’s portfolio companies have raised more than half a billion dollars of capital in addition to funding issued by the TIDE Africa Fund and on average, new investments secured from these startups were priced at 5x the valuation of the initial investment received from TLcom. In 2021, the investor also announced the first unicorn in its portfolio following Andela’s $200mn Series E funding at a valuation of $1.5bn.

Abhinav Sinha, Director and Head of Technology and Telecom at CDC (soon to become British International Investment (BII)), says “We are excited to expand our partnership with TLcom. The fund’s focus on business fundamentals coupled with deep understanding of local context has been instrumental in identifying market shaping businesses and innovative entrepreneurs in Africa.

“We are confident that our continued relationship will further amplify TLcom’s ambitions to accelerate impact to consumers and businesses across Africa’s diverse markets.”

Martin Ewald, Lead Portfolio Manager Impact Investments, AfricaGrow/Allianz Global Investors, adds “One thing is clear to those who are close to the African VC market: it will grow. We at AfricaGrow believe much more is possible in terms of capital influx into the continent especially in the VC space. There is considerable upside for everyone if investment activities accelerate even more: African businesses can boost productivity, gain in terms of competitiveness and technological edge and tens of millions more Africans could gain stable employment while generating returns for investors.”

Launched in 1999, TLcom currently has in excess of $350mn worth of funds under management across primary and secondary funds and boasts one of the leading portfolios in African tech featuring 12 startups including Andela, Ajua, Autochek, Ilara Health, Kobo360, Okra, Pula, Seamless HR, Shara, Terragon Group, Twiga Foods and uLesson.

The company’s highly experienced and growing team – which is also 50% female at a senior leadership level – consists of Founder and Managing Partner Maurizio Caio based in Kenya, Senior Partner Dr. Omobola Johnson based in Nigeria, and Partners Andreata Muforo in Kenya, and Ido Sum in the UK.

With its offices based in Kenya, Nigeria as well as the UK, TLcom invests across all stages of the venture capital cycle and manages a broad portfolio of tech-enabled startups addressing a range of sectors including agriculture, education, data analytics and logistics.

Ijeoma Agboti, Managing Director at FBNQuest Funds, closes “FBNQuest Funds is pleased to have participated in the first close of TLcom’s 2nd edition pan-African Tech Fund (TIDE Africa Fund II). This follows our first close commitment to the manager’s maiden fund (TIDE Africa Fund I).

“Our decision to back TLcom on its second fund was based on the fund manager’s demonstrated track record of investing in high growth tech companies with strong business fundamentals and implementing value creation strategies that improve the operations and profitability of these companies.

“We remain confident that TLcom is well-positioned to continue to deliver on our shared objective to provide capital, the required operational support and access to international partnerships to technology companies in the Africa region through the TIDE Africa Fund II. At FBNQuest Funds, we recognize the transformational role that technology must play in narrowing the gap between industries in Africa and the rest of the world, and we are keen to play a pivotal role in enabling this growth.”


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E-Financial

SEC Launches Capital Market Technology Survey

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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has unveiled a technology adoption assessment survey for registered capital market operators as part of efforts to deepen innovation and efficiency in the Nigerian capital market.

SEC Launches Capital Market Technology Survey

In a circular, the SEC stated that the exercise was designed to evaluate the level of adoption of advanced technologies among CMOs operating within the Nigerian capital market.

According to the notice, “The following technology adoption survey is designed by the Commission to assess the adoption of advanced technologies among registered Capital Market Operators.”

The SEC directed all registered operators to log into the e-portal at using their current access credentials to complete the survey. The exercise will run for two weeks, from 5 to 20 May 2025.

Speaking recently on the role of innovation in the capital market, Emomotimi Agama, director-general of the SEC, urged stakeholders to embrace technology as a catalyst for growth, improved transparency, operational efficiency, and market resilience.

He noted that the SEC recognises the emergence of new financial products and services driven by technological advancements, and remains committed to adapting its regulatory framework to meet the evolving needs of the market.

According to him, the commission’s approach to innovation is anchored on three pillars: investor safety, market deepening, and problem-solving aimed at building a robust and efficient capital market ecosystem.

Agama also highlighted the commission’s Regulatory Incubation Programme, which allows fintech startups to operate within a controlled environment for one year while appropriate rules are developed to govern their activities.

He said the programme is part of the SEC’s broader strategy to support innovation while safeguarding market integrity and investor interests.


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E-Financial

IMF Confirms Nigeria’s Full Repayment of $3.4bn COVID-19 Loan

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International Monetary Fund (IMF) ,has confirmed that Nigeria has fully repaid about US$3.4 billion loan it got in April 2020 under the Rapid Financing Instrument to help alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp fall in oil prices.

IMF Confirms Nigeria's Full Repayment of $3.4bn COVID-19 Loan

IMF said the loan has been repaid as of April 30, 2025 in a statement issued in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Thursday.

However, IMF said Nigeria is still expected to honour some additional payments in forms of Special Drawing Rights charges hat will amount to US$30 million annually.

“In line with the IMF’s Articles of Agreements, these charges, levied at the SDR interest rate, which is updated at the beginning of each week, apply to the difference between Nigeria’s SDR holdings (SDR 3,164 million) (US$4.3 billion) and its cumulative SDR allocation (SDR 4,027 million) (US$5.5 billion)

“The net payment of the charges stops when Nigeria’s SDR holdings reach the cumulative allocation amount,” IMF said in the statement. Online fitness

 

 

 


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E-Financial

CBN Raises N598.3Bn Through Treasury Bills Auction

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Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has allotted N598.33 billion in Nigerian Treasury Bills across three different maturities, with the 365-day bill dominating the auction, accounting for 80 percent of total sales and subscriptions.

A total of N482.62 billion was sold in the 365-day tenor, highlighting strong investor interest in the longer-term security.

The 91-day bill saw the least demand, with subscriptions of N48.4 billion and actual sales amounting to just N38.4 billion. This latest issuance brings the total Treasury bill sales for the year to N7.248 trillion.

At the auction held on Wednesday, May 7, the CBN offered N550 billion across the three maturities, N50 billion for the 91-day, N100 billion for the 182-day, and N400 billion for the 364-day bills. Despite total subscriptions dipping to N1.08 trillion from N1.53 trillion recorded at the previous auction, the auction was still oversubscribed, reflecting continued high liquidity in the financial system.

This demand pressure kept yields largely stable. The 365-day bill saw a marginal increase in yield to 24.41 percent from 24.36 percent, while the 182-day and 91-day yields remained unchanged at 20.38 percent and 18.85 percent, respectively. Yields have maintained a consistent level over the last four auctions, indicating a stable interest rate environment despite fluctuations in demand.

As of May 6, 2025, system liquidity stood at N1.21 trillion. When combined with maturing bills worth N287.98 billion, the total available liquidity more than tripled the N550 billion offered at the auction, further underscoring the robust investor appetite for government securities amid high market liquidity.


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