For its portfolio, Microtraction, an early-stage venture capital company based in Lagos, Nigeria, saw funding almost quadruple.
In an analysis of the year published last week, the firm noted that more than $33 million in capital has been received by 21 companies in its portfolio. This reflects almost four-fold growth over the previous year, when $6 million (and only $3 million in 2018) was generated by its portfolio. According to the company, the total value of the businesses stands at more than $147 million.
Founded in 2017 by Yele Bademosi, Microtraction joined the early-stage investment scene of the continent with the goal of becoming “the most accessible and preferred source of pre-seed financing for African technology entrepreneurs”
Microtraction’s standard deal at first was to offer $15,000 in exchange for a 7.5 percent equity to portfolio startups. But that changed last year as a sign of how the market is firming up, and now the company is investing $25,000 in 7 percent equity.
Microtraction disclosed that, in its first full year of operation, it accepted more than 500 applications from start-ups in Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia and Mauritius.
Four fintech startups, Cowrywise, Riby, Wallets Africa and ThankUCash; a crypto-exchange startup, BuyCoins; a SaaS platform, Accounteer; an edtech startup, Schoolable; and a healthtech startup, 54gene. The initial batch was all Nigerian.
Seven startups were announced by Microtraction last year. The latest selection includes Nigerian Evolve Credit and Chaka fintech startups; Gradely edtech startup; PlentyWaka bus-hailing platform; and CARMA, the Kenyan credit data marketplace.
