|#540 MWAVC| — Microtraction's 2023 Year in Review ⚡
12 new deals, 70 portfolio companies, $813m combined valuation
Hi,
Welcome (back) to MWAVC, a newsletter about finance, investing, venture capital and all that jazz. My name is Ato (more about me here and here) and I try to write every single day, inspired by Seth Godin (Seth’s Blog) and Fred Wilson (AVC). I haven’t done the best job over the last few months (read: years 😬), but I’m working to be better and more consistent, even as I manage this crazy schedule.
In case you’re new here. Quick introduction: I’ve been investing in some way shape or form for the last 12+ years and now work with one of the pre-eminent VC firms in Africa - Microtraction, and the family office that acts as the GP - Pave Investments. Read more on us here and here. Most of these writing are stuff I find interesting that I’d like to share and hear your thoughts on. This is also an outlet for my thoughts, lessons, asks etc. and I think you’d find most of it valuable if you’re remotely interested in learning about venture capital.
I’d be developing the content more, including things I think will be helpful and would appreciate any feedback on what’s working vs. not, and what could be helpful for you over the long term. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. Or just read on.
And BTW, If you are a (or know any) pre-seed, seed or Series A investor, looking to co-invest in African founders, please introduce them to me (ato@microtraction.com). Happy to learn about the next generation of category-defining businesses.
Shameless plug today, putting up an extract Microtraction’s latest piece - our 2023 Year in Review. Take a look to see all we’ve been up to over the past year. 12 deals, with 5 led and championed by yours truly 😇. Posted about this on my LinkedIn and the reception has been very encouraging. Looking forward to doing more this year!
Read the full piece here and apply for funding from MT here!
Microtraction's 2023 Year in Review
In 2023, we celebrated our 6th anniversary as we continue to deploy from our second fund. This fund serves as a nexus for a community of leading investors; Angels, Operators, GPs, and LPs, each bringing specific subject matter expertise to support our founders in growing their businesses. Throughout the year, we expanded our family of founders and welcomed new team members. Also, we launched our SPV program, a crucial initiative aimed at providing support to our portfolio startups and finding other gems at the seed stage with their fundraising efforts, marking a significant step forward in our commitment to supporting early-stage ventures in Africa.
In parallel, we dedicated efforts to bolster our portfolio support and strengthen the bond within our founder and community network by hosting our first founders’ retreat and LP community events. Though 2023 was not without its challenges, we approach 2024 with optimism and believe that it will be a much better year. The lessons learned in 2023 will serve as an invaluable guide, propelling us forward as we continue to support and elevate the next generation of innovative founders and businesses.
MT in Numbers — 2023
We came across 1000+ companies via applications, outreach, referrals, and partnerships. We saw companies notably across Fintech, SAAS, e-Commerce, Healthtech, etc.
We invested in 12 companies. The MT portfolio has now grown to 67 companies.
34% of the companies we invested in 2023 are either led by female founders or co-founded by female entrepreneurs.
We made follow-on investments into 2 of our portfolio startups.
We made our first investment in Tanzania.
6 of our portfolio companies got into global accelerators.
In 2023, MT portfolio companies raised over $35m in funding.
We had a total of 4 in-person community events (New York, San Francisco, Cape Town, and Lagos) and 5 virtual community events.
New Investments
In 2023, we made a total of 12 investments across the continent.
Tembo Plus; Founded by Victor Joseph and Rueben Mwatosya, Tembo Plus provides users with APIs, SDKs, and tools to help them embed bank accounts, wallets, and financial products across the continent.
AyaData; Founded by Fredie Monk, Ama Larbi Saw, and Rocco Falconer, AyaData provides users with innovative solutions that cut across the entire AI value chain. From data acquisition, and annotation to providing bespoke AI solutions.
FoodCourt; Founded by Henry Nneji, FoodCourt is Nigeria’s leading “ghost kitchen”, making meals more accessible by taking control of the entire value chain from technology to production, and delivery.
Poynt (Zuberi); Founded by Julian Owusu and Nana Adomako, Poynt is a social commerce platform that allows Africans & people from diverse communities to buy & sell secondhand items via a marketplace and live-streaming showcases.
Pika; Founded by Sadiq Edu, Aba Sagoe, and Arum Galadima, Pika is a retailer-focused e-commerce platform, for testing/launching new FMCG products.
Shipbubble; Founded by Jordan Ajibola and Ayodeji Abon, Shipbubble allows for the automation of shipping processes and the creation of branded tracking interfaces.
Foodlama; Founded by Damilare Ogunleye and Santiago Schmitt, FoodLama uses advanced algorithms to tailor food recommendations to users' unique preferences and goals.
Zilla; Founded by Tolu Abiodun and, Chibuike Maduekwe, Zilla provides buy-now-pay-later services to Africans.
Mira; Founded by Ted Oladele and Olaseike Ibojo, Mira provides the fastest way for diners to order and pay for food.
Oval; Founded by Chris Mozie and Paul Akubo, Oval provides the most comprehensive gateway to alternative financial services for fintechs and institutions across Africa.
Baki; Founded by Kwehnui Tawah, Baki provides Black women in Africa with a world-class beauty retail experience that is inclusive, empowering, culturally relevant, and of the highest quality.
Intron Health; Founded by Tobi Olatunji and Kunle Asekun, Intron Health is Africa’s first speech-powered medical record. It provides real-time clinical speech-to-text for over 200 African accents.
MT Overall Stats
We invested in 12 companies in 2023, a 40% decrease from the previous year. These investments span diverse sectors, including Fintech, Foodtech, Health Tech, etc. With a total of 67 companies across two funds, it brings the total number of founders to 140.
In total, 28 of our portfolio companies have gotten into global accelerators with a few getting into multiple accelerators. 11 in YC, 9 in Google, 7 in Techstars, 2 in 500 Global, 2 in ODx, 2 in Norrsken Impact Accelerator, 1 in Visa Fintech Accelerator. 80% of our portfolio companies have successfully raised funding post-Microtraction (including some of the investments made in 2022). Across 2 funds, our portfolio companies combined have raised a total of $135m+ (up from $100m+ in 2022) and are currently valued at $813M+ (up from $694m+ in 2022)
Currently, we have a presence in 8 African countries. We have made investments in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Tanzania and Uganda.
Community Events
Microtraction events in SF and NY: We hosted some of our community members and friends of the fund in San Francisco and New York. The theme for both events was; “Understanding the African VC Opportunity” (Perspectives and Macro Themes from Microtraction: Africa’s pre-eminent early stage fund). We hosted over 50 guests across the two cities, interacting and sharing insights into Microtraction’s thesis in the African venture space. Some of those in attendance were Tunde Folawiyo, Chrysa Chin, Charlemagne, Michael Siebel, Ann Fraizer, Matt Margolin, and Joakim Noah. A big thank you to everyone who attended including our investors and founders (Olu from Vesti, Emmanuella from Pennee) who made it to either event. Thanks to The Flip Africa, you can watch the full event in San Francisco here and New York, here.
Microtraction Founders Retreat in Lagos, Nigeria: On the 8th and 9th of December, 2023, we hosted founders of our portfolio companies at our inaugural Microtraction Founders Retreat. During the retreat, speakers shared insights and explored the nuanced workings of operating a startup in Africa under topics like Culture and Hiring, BD and Partnerships, Founders' Mental Health, Growth, Fundraising, and Corporate Governance. Founders had the opportunity to interact directly with experts to get bespoke insights tailored for their respective startups. Some of the speakers in attendance were Lexi Novitske, Tayo Oviosu, Eloho Omame, Adia Sowho, and Nichole Yembra.
I hope this is helpful to some founders out there. I’m happy to speak more on this with anyone looking to build a company and wants feedback. Thinking of bringing my Office Hours back for founders to book 30 minutes to tell me about themselves, their businesses and ask for feedback, but haven’t made a full decision yet. Should I? 😬 (I’ve got 5 yeses to this so far, and looking for 5 more before I push it.
Currently Reading 🎒
Early morning reviewing my notes from Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. Excellent, excellent, excellent book. I’ll post these notes in another post after I clean them up a bit.
Currently Listening 🎧
Justin is doing great work with the Flip. Check out their latest episode - Why is only 2% of funding going to female founders?
If you are a (or know any) pre-seed, seed or Series A investor, looking to co-invest in African founders, please introduce them to me (ato@microtraction.com) and let’s do some work together.
Remember: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”
Please share and subscribe as well below.
Till tomorrow,
AB
Very informative, yes number 6 to office hours 🖐🏾