The pan-African Ventures Platform II Fund has secured a commitment of up to $8 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the institution announced on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. This commitment marks EBRD’s first participation in a venture capital fund operating in sub-Saharan Africa.
A fund built to support startups on the continent
Founded in 2016 in Lagos by Kola Aina, Ventures Platform positions itself as a fund specializing in very early-stage funding rounds – from “discovery” stage (seed) to series A. The company claims to have already supported over 90 pan-African startups, several of which have reached “unicorn” or recognized scale-up status, such as Paystack, Moniepoint, MDaSS, and OmniRetail.
The Fund II, with an initial closing announced at $64 million and a final closing at $84 million, has exceeded its initial target. This trajectory contrasts with the decline observed in the African venture capital market in 2024-2025, where overall fundraising decreased.
The Ventures Platform program targets sectors considered structuring: fintech, e-commerce, logistics technologies, as well as adjacent segments (health, agriculture, education, AI), with an investment thesis focused on services for historically underserved populations.
EBRD, a new entrant among institutional investors
Dirk Werner, Managing Director of EBRD’s Equity branch, oversees the transaction. The choice of Ventures Platform II is part of the “Early-Stage Innovation Facility II” (ESIF II) mandate – a facility with €200 million through which EBRD takes stakes in early-stage funds operating in its target geographies. Among other committed Limited Partners are Norfund ($6 million), alongside returning historical LPs.
Kola Aina, founding partner of Ventures Platform, described EBRD’s commitment as a mark of institutional confidence in the fund’s ability to support sustainable businesses in high-potential markets.
The Fund II’s first public investment took place in July 2026, with a co-leadership of a $3 million funding round in the Nigerian cybersecurity company Cybervergent. This deployment illustrates the fund’s sectoral focus and the seed-stage intervention window it aims to occupy.
Structural challenges and continental issues
For Dirk Werner, the deficit in African venture capital investment remains a structural obstacle. Several studies, including those cited by EBRD, document insufficient mobilization of institutional capital compared to the observed entrepreneurial vitality. The ESIF II program is designed to gradually bridge this gap, relying on local managers operating on a large scale.
The challenge goes beyond capital injection: EBRD believes that African funds active in seed-stage play a key role in the economic structuring of the continent by upstreaming an entrepreneurial fabric still undercovered by traditional actors.
