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Ventures Platform, a Pan-African venture firm based in Nigeria, has successfully raised a $83 million second fund that exceeds its initial expectations. The firm's strategy is to expand its reach beyond Nigeria and invest in early-stage startups across various sectors, including fintech, healthcare, SaaS, and other areas where technology can create significant value.

Kola Aina, the firm's founding partner, emphasized that the firm is particularly interested in how AI can transform the economics of serving African markets, making services more affordable and addressing labor shortages. Fund II, which is up to 50% larger than Fund I, will be deployed over the next three to four years, with check sizes of up to $3 million.

The fund raiser took about a year and a half and was described as more selective by Aina, as investors are now more cautious and demand stronger fundamentals, better governance, and a clear path to generating returns. African startups have raised around $930 million across more than 200 deals this year, compared to $1.16 billion in 447 deals last year.

Aina highlighted that LPs now expect evidence of value creation and are less interested in simply being a pan-African fund. The firm's unique value proposition lies in its combination of local expertise and global connectivity, which enables it to support founders navigating the evolving African startup ecosystem.