11 investors to know in the African startup ecosystem

African angel investors signed more cheques in 2025 than in either of the two preceding years, according to the African Business Angel Network’s 2025 Angel Investment Survey Report.

It also reveals that Africa has more than 5,000 angel investors and 75 active networks. The angel groups that responded to ABAN’s survey deployed $4.4 million across the continent in 2025. Over 90% of individual angels wrote cheques below $25,000, up from 76% in 2024.

Below are 11 investors who have repeatedly written cheques and built documented portfolios. They are based across Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal, and the African diaspora.

1. Olumide Soyombo

Soyombo began angel investing in 2014 and has backed over 100 startups. His portfolio includes Paystack (acquired by Stripe for over $200 million in 2020), PiggyVest, Mono (acquired by Flutterwave in 2026), Brass, Trove, Lemonade Finance (now Lemfi), and TeamApt (now Moniepoint). He co-founded Voltron Capital, a pan-African VC firm targeting pre-seed and seed-stage investments across Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and North Africa, with ticket sizes ranging from $20,000 to $100,000. His most recent recorded investment was in Gumption, a financial software startup, in March 2025.

2. Salah Abou Elmagd

Abou Elmagd is a training and sales professional. In January 2026, he led a funding round into Business for Teens, an Egyptian edtech platform — his first recorded startup investment. He described it publicly as “the first in a series of upcoming investments.”

3. Ilan Benhaim

Benhaim co-founded Veepee (formerly Vente-Privée), a European e-commerce company with over €3.7 billion in revenue. Since 2019, he has invested full-time through IBP Participations, a portfolio of more than 25 startups globally. His African vehicle, IBP Africa, is based in Casablanca and has backed at least six Moroccan startups, including Pip Pip Yalah, Nadari, and Cuimer. He focuses on the Francophone markets such as Senegal, the Ivory Coast, and Mauritania. In 2025, he participated in an angel investment in Charikaty.

Read also: 10 African VC firms you should know in 2026

4. Tomi Davies

Davies is president of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), which connects more than 5,000 angel investors through 75-plus member networks across 37 countries. He made his first angel investment in 2001 in Strika Entertainment, the publisher of Supa Strikas comics. That investment returned 20x on exit, with the South Africa rights later sold to Moonbug and then to Disney. He co-founded the Lagos Angel Network in 2012. His operating vehicle is TVC Labs, the accelerator arm of TechnoVision Communications, funded by a 22-partner syndicate that includes Iyin Aboyeji, Kola Aina, and Olumide Soyombo. His personal portfolio spans approximately 32 startups, including Trove, Big Cabal Media, FlexiSAF Edusoft, Powerstove, Omnibiz, Semicolon Africa, and Sproxil. 

5. Rebecca Enonchong

Enonchong is the CEO of AppsTech, the chair of ActivSpaces, and the vice president of ABAN. She invests across tech, agritech, and digital infrastructure. ABAN data shows that 80% of African angel deals are concentrated in Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa. Enonchong’s portfolio and ecosystem work is focused on markets outside that cluster, including Francophone and rural Africa.

6. Temi Marcella

Marcella served as Regional Lead for the $1 billion Evercare healthcare platform under TPG Capital and The Rise Fund. She began her career as an investment analyst at Goldman Sachs. She started angel investing in 2017, co-founding a syndicate called Kairos Angels, and later partnered with MAGIC Fund, which has backed over 200 technology companies across 25 countries. Her Africa investments from that vehicle include Vendease, Nestcoin, Bamboo, Orda, Bumpa, and Moni. She is now a founding partner of Alcent Capital.

7. Eghosa Omoigui

Omoigui founded EchoVC Partners, a seed and early-stage VC firm with operations in Lagos and Silicon Valley. Portfolio companies include Hotels.ng, Printivo, Ma3Route, Lifebank, Migo, Cars45 (Frontier Car Group), SystemOne, and Kukua. In 2025, EchoVC invested in 14 climate-related startups through a $3 million fund. The firm is raising a second $3 million fund for the same mandate and a vehicle of up to $30 million targeting climate and adjacent sectors.

8. Fatoumata Bâ

Bâ founded Janngo Capital in 2018, after serving as the founding CEO of Jumia Ivory Coast and the Managing Director of Jumia Nigeria. Janngo’s first fund was $10 million. The second, closed in 2024, reached $78 million, backed by the European Investment Bank, the African Development Bank, and commercial LPs including the Mulliez family. Janngo commits 50% of its investments to companies founded or co-founded by women, or that significantly benefit women. Its 21 portfolio companies are 56% female-founded or led. The firm has completed four exits, including the cash sale of Expensya (Tunisia) in 2023. TIME named Janngo Capital to its 100 Most Influential Companies list in 2025. The second fund targets 25 to 30 companies from seed to Series A, with cheques of up to $5 million per startup, and is focused on West Africa, healthcare, logistics, and financial services.

9. Kola Aina

Aina founded Ventures Platform in Abuja. The firm’s portfolio includes Moniepoint and PiggyVest. It manages a $40 million pan-African fund with deal sizes exceeding $1 million at pre-seed and seed. It focuses on sectors like fintech, GovTech, climate technology, health, and insurance.

10. Eloho Omame

Omame is a Partner at TLcom Capital, where she sits on the boards of HUB2, Illa, Talstack, and Zone. TLcom manages approximately $250 million across two funds. Portfolio companies include Andela, Autocheck, Okra, Pula, SeamlessHR, Twiga Foods, uLesson, and Vendease. She co-founded FirstCheck Africa in 2021, a pre-seed fund for female-led startups, with investments including Uncover (Kenya) and Norebase. Before TLcom, she was Managing Director and CEO of Endeavor Nigeria and a Vice President at General Atlantic. She is a member of Nigeria’s National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship under the Nigeria Startup Act (2022).

11. Isaac Ewaleifoh

Ewaleifoh began angel investing in 2018, focused on founders of African descent. He holds a portfolio of 100 deals, with 10 exits — seven through secondary sales. He has nearly two decades of experience in public accounting, investment banking, and private equity, and is a startup mentor at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Centre. He sits on ABAN’s board. The African diaspora accounts for 33% of Africa’s angel investors and 60% of all angel investments tracked over the past decade.

We published a report on the State of Startup Funding in Africa, offering valuable insights. Download here.

Last updated: May 17, 2026