Regardless of where you are in your tech startup, you need money to keep running your business and your ability to raise money will determine how far it will go.
Understanding the different needs at each stage of funding will also equip you with the confidence to pitch to investors and come up with a final agreement.
There are organizations that can fund your startup once you can clearly articulate your financial needs, niche market, business goals, long-term objectives, and other elements of your business. These organizations are alternatives to banks because banks have a stricter process which normally requires collateral and significant sales volume.
Therefore you may want to know the other ways or organizations that can offer funds for startups. Here are some of them:
Lagos Angel Network
Lagos Angel Network (LAN) was founded in 2014 as a member-only network of Angel investors that supports early-stage ventures in Lagos, Nigeria, through funding and mentoring. Many startups in Lagos have received funding from LAN members since it was founded.
Growth Capital Fund
Growth Capital Fund is owned by CCHub which is Nigeria’s first social innovation fund, to provide drivers driving social change in Nigeria. GC-Fund assists high-potential, early-stage businesses in developing our next-generation infrastructure through the use of technology. Investors in the GC-Fund include Omidyar Network, Bank Of Industry, and Venture Garden Group
Ventures Platform is an early-stage growth fund that helps post-MVP teams scale their businesses. Ventures Platform invests in Africa’s most daring entrepreneurs and assists them in building great businesses around their ideas. Kola Aina, an angel investor, founded Venture Platform. Startups such as MobileForms, GeroCare, Accounteer, Jalo, PiggyBank, Wesabi, and others are included in Ventures Platform’s portfolio.
Greenhouse Capital was founded in January 2016 by Venture Garden Group. It is an independent investment holding company that has become Africa’s largest Fintech investment holding company through direct investments in African technology companies that support and disintegrate banking services. GreenHouse Capital has made some investments in well-known Nigerian startups to date. To date, GreenHouse Capital has made some investments in popular Nigerian startups like Flutterwave, Max.NG, Rensource, Riby, and TalentBase.
SPARK capital provides seed funding and support to startups with well-defined and scalable revenue models. SPARK was founded by IrokoTV’s Jason Njoku, and currently has over 9 startups in its portfolio, including Hotels NG, Paystack, OgaVenue, Drinks NG, and others.
Microtraction
Microtraction invests in smart, resourceful founders. resourceful founders who are building high-growth, technology-driven businesses in $Bn markets. R the platform has invested in Nigeria startups like Cowrywise, BuyCoins, and Wallet.ng, Allpro, and Thank-U-Cash.
VC Partners Echo
EchoVC Partners is a seed and early-ventures capital firm dedicated to funding and encouraging the exchange of ideas between top teams, technologies, and business models in Sub-Saharan Africa and North America. EchoVC brings a disruptive approach to investing at the technology intersection of consumer, media, data, and devices by leveraging Silicon Valley knowledge transfer as a driver to seed growth and has a combined network of local and international connections. The popular investments made by EchoVC include Hotels NG, Cars45, Lifebank, MyPadi, and Printivo.
The Next Titan
The Next Titan is a business reality show which is the Nigerian version of The Apprentice and is currently sponsored by Heritage bank and Tingo mobile.
The show consists of a group of aspiring business people lodged at a location and required to complete various business-related activities. These housemates are then eliminated from the competition weekly until a winner is declared.
The selection process is in three stages. The first is the general audition, where all registrants are brought together for a pitch event. Each housemate will have to make a case for why an idea or startup deserves funding from The Next Titan.
The number of days for the pitch event will depend on the number of people that need to be auditioned. These pitches are made to a panel of judges and the successful ones will be sent to a boot camp where a final round of selection will be made.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF)
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) is a mentorship, grooming, and finance platform to finance 10,000 African entrepreneurs with US$100 million by 2024. TEF strengthens African startups and the ecosystem, by rendering funding support to them in 54 different countries through its flagship entrepreneurship programme.
Applicants undergo 12 weeks of intense online training with world-class mentors and access to TEF’s community. The successful applicants will receive US$5,000 in seed funds, in addition to access to further investment.
The TEF training programme is structured to categorize business owners according to their skills and experience. It provides them with the knowledge and skills needed to launch or expand their business.
To apply, you only need to be a permanent resident of any country in Africa. Your startup must also be at an ideation stage or not a business older than 5years.
The Anzisha Prize
One of the organizations that support startup funding with significant funding in Africa is the Anzisha Prize for young entrepreneurs. Around $200,000 is awarded for business support and prize money annually to very young entrepreneurs from all over Africa as part of the Anzisha Prize. It is one of Africa’s largest awards for the youngest entrepreneurs aged 15–22.
Over the past decade, the Anzisha Prize has provided much-needed resources and advocacy for aspiring young business leaders.
The programme monitors the business it supports and the entrepreneur’s progress over three years. When a company demonstrates exceptional development and initiative, it is rewarded with a variety of resources, including free online courses, discounted cloud services, and cash grants.
At the end of the second year, startup founders will present their business progress and achievements in the hope of winning a funding portion of about $50,000 in total rewards from the organization.
Note: This list is not exhaustive.
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