Nine out of ten startups fail globally. In Africa, 45% shut down between 2010 and 2022, and of the 53 tracked shutdowns across seven countries (2013–2024), Nigeria alone accounted for 47%. That’s the baseline every founder here wakes up to.

FirstFounders (F2) is betting that a studio model with slow, hands-on, and aggressively de-risked approaches can change those odds. Last week, the venture studio launched a report demonstrating how their thesis work.

What F2 is building

F2 isn’t an accelerator. It’s a venture studio, the kind that doesn’t just mentor you from the sidelines, but jumps in as a co-founder, builds alongside you, and invests from day one. They pick their battles carefully by focusing on AI plays in FinTech, Consumer, and Entertainment, tapping into a combined $1.8 trillion market. The goal is not just to grow companies, but to get them acquired within 36 months.

They’ve got numbers to back the talk with 6 portfolio startups, averaging 6.5x Multiple On Invested Capital (MOIC), and aiming for 50% IRR.

The process is structured and repeatable. First, $120,000 in direct and operational support to get started. Second, a $250,000 partner investment for scaling, third, Full product, tech, and legal support for up to three years.

It’s a playbook they believe other African regions can copy.

The program moves through the venture lab to the venture studio, then capital through partnership. F2 takes 30% at the intense co-build stage.

Nigeria’s startup scene is buzzing, boosted by internet growth, young talent, and policies like the National Startup Act (2022). But beneath the rush, the cracks like regulatory uncertainty slow things down. Early-stage capital is scarce, and 47% of recorded startup shutdowns in Africa (2013–2024) were Nigerian.

F2’s model is built to tackle these exact pain points with in-house legal guidance, proactive policy engagement, investor networks like F2-VSIN, co-investment, and a $7.5m target fund, Shared offices, tech platforms, accounting, HR, and legal, and rigorous market validation and founder-team matching.

Inside the Portfolio

The portfolio is a mix of AI-first plays across sectors. Each startup is designed for early acquisition, with jobs created as a visible impact metric (SDG 8). In the legaltech, they have Pocketlawyers, Africa’s first fully integrative legal tech startup led by Ngozi Nwabueze that recently secured an undisclosed funding, and Korinai, an African AI-powered music generator, and Zurri AI Marketplace for AI agents and models, and others

In Africa’s fast-copy market, F2 treats intellectual property like gold. Every portfolio company’s IP is co-owned during the studio phase, then handed fully to founders at exit, ensuring it’s protected during the risky early build, but clean for acquisition later.

They’ve adapted IP strategies for the AI age by training only on licensed datasets, watching global AI regulations, and filing patents internationally.

Beyond building companies, F2 is building the infrastructure of entrepreneurship with branches like F2Nation, an open venture studio community for networking, mentorship, and fundraising; F2Bank, a future startup bank offering tailored financial services and flexible financing; and F2 Academy, training for venture builders and studio operators.

It’s an ecosystem designed to lower barriers, build talent, and keep the pipeline of founders flowing.

The bigger context

Venture studios aren’t a niche anymore, with more than 720 studios worldwide in 2023, a 454% addition in a decade, managing more than $100Billion. F2 lifts those global best practices and narrows them to AI in Africa.

On the policy side, the report argues for a National Venture Studio Policy, plus new bodies such as NAVENSO, a National Venture Studio Agency, and a National Venture Builders Institute to standardize, fund, and scale this model nationwide.

Tying it to outcomes that matter like jobs (SDG 8), industry infrastructure (SDG 9), partnerships (SDG 17), talent (SDG 4), equity (SDG 5), and Nigeria’s digital economy growing at 15.4% CAGR. 

FirstFounders wants to institutionalise venture building in Africa by turning raw ideas into scaled, acquirable products, and proving that with the right mix of capital, co-building, and community, the odds for African startups don’t have to be so brutal. F2’s report doesn’t promise immortality; it proposes a machine for failing less and exiting faster. If the studio model is recognised and funded, F2’s numbers suggest the odds can move.