At a recent investor meeting, African early-stage investor Oui Capital informed limited partners that it had returned its $4 million debut fund after selling some stake in business banking platform Moniepoint.
The African fintech unicorn has so far proved to be a standout investment for five-year-old Oui Capital. When it launched its first fund, it invested $150,000 in the Nigeria-based company, an early bet that has since generated an $8 million return — enough to pay off the fund.
Specifically, last October, when Moniepoint raised $110 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation in a Series C round led by Development Partners International, Oui Capital sold some of its stake in the deal; now, with its fund paid off, any future returns will be pure profit for its investors.
It’s a rare feat for a young VC firm—many globally fail to return their first fund—and even rarer in Africa’s venture ecosystem. Still, it underscores how profitable some early-stage bets, particularly in fintech, can be on the continent. Oui Capital joins other pan-African investors such as CRE VC and 4DX Ventures that have returned their first funding after backing other unicorns such as Andela and Flutterwave, according to two people familiar with investor relations on the continent.
TechCrunch reached out to Oui Capital for comment, and the firm confirmed the news.
Moniepoint, formerly known as TeamApt, was not a household name in 2019 when Oui Capital first considered it. At the time, the company primarily built financial products and software for itself and banks.
Oui Capital, founded by Olu Oyinsan and Francesco Andreoli, was among its earliest investors and also one of the few to back the wearable center in Moniepoint, a business banking and payments platform that has since become the largest merchant buyer of Nigeria.
“They’ve been with us through the stages, from product market fit research to production,” Tosin Enioluwadara, co-founder and CEO of Moniepoint, told Oui Capital in a 2021 video. “Olu (managing partner at Oui Capital ) has been helpful in counseling; we talk through strategy, governance and key issues affecting the company. They have also been instrumental in our investment campaigns, from introducing potential investors to sometimes thinking about our narrative and positioning…”
Exits in Africa’s tech scene remain rare, with only 143 of 2,971 venture deals since 2019 leading to exits, according to The Big Deal. Most startups are still in their early or growth stages – far from the maturity needed for significant exits. Unlike developed markets with robust M&A and IPO options, Africa’s tech ecosystem is still growing, leaving fewer startups in an exit-ready position.
On the other hand, venture investments typically take 5-10 years to mature, so many VC firms focused on Africa are still waiting for returns. For Oui Capital, that wait lasted five years. When the firm joined Moniepoint’s seed round, the company was valued at $12.5 million, as revealed in an investor report first seen by TechCrunch.
Anecdotally, smaller funds are easier to turn around because of their size. Data from Cambridge Associates, which builds and manages investment portfolios for institutional investors, supports this trend.
But more importantly, Oyinsan credits building his fund’s portfolio for the firm’s traction to date. “It’s not just about the size of the fund — it’s about what you invest in, your entry price, how much equity you own, how much you invest and when you decide to exit,” he tells TechCrunch.
Other startups in Oui Capital’s portfolio include Duplo, which digitizes payment flows for African B2B enterprises; Maad, a B2B e-commerce platform for fast-moving consumer goods; and Matta, a B2B marketplace for chemicals, from its first fund, Mentors Fund 1.
The investor, with 22 startups across two funds, writes checks of up to $400,000 to early-stage startups across Africa.
In 2022, Oui Capital launched a second fund, Mentors Fund 2. While the early-stage firm initially targeted $30 million, it closed at $12 million, according to Oyinsan. He also shared that while the fund has no plans to rush fundraising due to its strong position, it may raise a third fund later this year.
