From founders to funders: 12 Y Combinator alums backing the next generation of startups

Y Combinator, a prominent Silicon Valley accelerator, has produced four African unicorns, and increasingly, the founders it trained are now writing the cheques.

Here are 12 Y Combinator alumni who went from building startups to funding the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Kendall Ananyi — Tizeti (YC W17) 

Ananyi co-founded Tizeti. He is an angel investor with over 40 startups and has averaged an exit almost every year since 2020. His investments include Paystack, Flutterwave (YC W16), and Reliance Health (formerly Kangpe) (YC W17).

Adegoke “Goke” Olubusi — Helium Health (YC W17)

Goke Olubusi is the founding partner of MAGIC Fund, a $40M early-stage venture capital firm. He has backed 250+ high-growth startups, including Bamboo (where he serves as a board member), Jasper, Retool, Bolt.com, and Novo.

Dimeji Sofowora

The Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Helium Health serves as a General Partner at the MAGIC Fund.

Read also: Ten years after Paystack: what Y Combinator’s African portfolio looks like

Olugbenga “GB” Agboola — Flutterwave (YC W16)

As CEO of Flutterwave, Agboola is also investing through personal capital and through Resilience17 (formerly Berrywood), a venture studio he founded. His portfolio includes Curacel, Brass (later moved to Paystack), and Big Cabal Media. Through Resilience17 and its AI-focused accelerator, Go Time AI, he offers $200K in investment to African AI startups in exchange for an 8% equity stake. Portfolio companies include AltSchool, Bamboo, Klasha, and now-collapsed Pivo.

Kuassi Jimmy Kumako — Moneco (YC S22)

Kumako is the Co-founder & CTO at Moneco. He has also led engineering roles at Paystack, the first Nigerian YC-backed startup. He is a member of Benin Business Angel Network (BBAN), with which he backs early-stage tech founders across West Africa.

Emmanuel Gbolade — Termii (YC W20)

As a co-founder of Termii, he has backed over 100 high-growth tech platforms across fintech, developer tools, and digital infrastructure via Aidi Ventures, his borderless family office/advisory firm.

Some of those investments include Moni(acquired by Flutterwave), Grey (YC S21), CreditChek, and Convoy (Frain Technologies) (YC W22).

Timi Ajiboye — BuyCoins (YC S18)

Ajiboye was the co-founder of Helicarrier (originally launched as BuyCoins), one of Nigeria’s earliest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. It paused operations in 2023. His investments include Convoy (Frain Technologies), Tix, Accrue, Yara, Shepherd, and VendEase.

Ife Oyedele — Kobo360 (YC S18)  

He was the Co-founder of Kobo360, which he left in 2022. He channels his investment through his role as a Partner at Kaleo Ventures, an early-stage venture firm focused on building across African markets.

Femi Kuti — Reliance Health (YC W17)

He is the co-founder and CEO of Reliance Health (originally launched as the telemedicine platform Kangpe). He serves as a venture partner for the Silicon Valley-based Pioneer Fund. Some of his investments include Solugen, Collectly, Kudi, and Wifi.com.ng.

Shola Akinlade — Paystack (YC W16)

Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade has backed startups including Earnipay, AltSchool Africa, Casava, and Edukoya. His most recent investment was in Chowdeck (Series A, April 2024).

Ezra Olubi

Olubi is the co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Paystack and is also an angel investor whose portfolio includes Brass, Chowdeck, Thepeer, Borderless, and Fleet Device Management.

Iyinoluwa “Iyin” Aboyeji — Flutterwave (YC W16)

Aboyeji launched Accelerate Africa, backed by a $750,000 USAID grant, with the ambition of becoming “the YC of Africa” and targeting pre-seed startups across all 54 African countries.

In January 2020, he became a general partner of the Future Africa Fund. He announced that the fund had invested $1.5 million in 19 African companies, including startups such as Foondamate, Gamp, Norebase, Rise, Spleet, and Stears.

Foreign VCs often lack the regulatory nuance and on-the-ground context to write early-stage checks; this local cohort of YC-backed companies has stepped up to the task. By funding the next generation of builders, these founder-investors are creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that bridges the continent’s early-stage funding gaps and drives localized innovation.

Last updated: June 4, 2026