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iDICE, a Nigerian government $618 million technology incubator that invests in Digital and Creative Enterprises, is the anchor investor in a $75 million capital-raising exercise by Lagos-based Ventures Platform, said Ventures’ founding partner Kola Aina.
It staked an undisclosed amount alongside the International Finance Corp, the UK’s British International Investment, France’s Proparco and Standard Bank Group Ltd. during a first funding round that closed at $64 million, Aina said.
Nigeria’s tech startups are a major draw for capital on the continent, and several have grown into so-called unicorns with valuations above $1 billion. But there has been little direct government support until now.
iDICE will boost “the Nigerian technology and creative sectors by catalyzing strategic investments in high-growth, technology-enabled enterprises” said Olasupo Olusi, chief executive officer of Bank of Industry, which oversees the fund for the government.
Ventures Platform will serve as the technology equity investment partner, he said.
Co-financed by Bank of Industry, African Development Bank, the Agence Française de Développement and the Islamic Development Bank, iDICE aims to support Nigerians aged between 15 and 35 in “innovative, early-stage” tech startups, according to its website.
Startups struggle to raise capital and iDICE will give them “the kind of foundation that they need to grow,” said the fund’s national coordinator Ife Adebajo.
It will invest up to $137 million as equity and $110 million as debt in startups, mainly via other funds on the basis that whatever it puts in is matched at a minimum of one-to-one by the fund’s manager. Private sector partners have pledged to raise another $217 million, said Adebajo.
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