{"id":650083,"date":"2025-01-20T10:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T07:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-african-vc-firm-oui-capital-returned-its-first-fund-with-moniepoints-unicorn-exit\/"},"modified":"2025-01-20T10:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T07:50:20","slug":"how-african-vc-firm-oui-capital-returned-its-first-fund-with-moniepoints-unicorn-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-african-vc-firm-oui-capital-returned-its-first-fund-with-moniepoints-unicorn-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"#How African VC firm Oui Capital returned its first fund with Moniepoint’s unicorn exit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At a recent investor meeting, early-stage African investor Oui Capital<\/a> informed limited partners that it had returned its $4 million debut fund following the sale of some shares in the business banking platform Moniepoint.<\/p>\n

The African fintech unicorn has so far proven 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\u2014enough to pay back the fund.<\/p>\n

Specifically, last October, when Moniepoint raised $110 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation in a Series<\/a> C round led by Development Partners International, Oui Capital sold some of its shares into the deal; now, with its fund repaid, any future returns will be pure profit for its investors.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a rare feat for a young VC firm\u2014many globally fail to return their first fund\u2014and even rarer in Africa\u2019s venture ecosystem. Still, it underscores how lucrative some early-stage bets, especially in fintech,\u00a0can be on the continent. Oui Capital joins other pan-African investors like CRE VC <\/a>and 4DX Ventures that have returned their first funds after backing other unicorns, such as Andela and Flutterwave, according to two people familiar with investor dealings on the continent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TechCrunch contacted Oui Capital for comment, and the firm confirmed the news<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Moniepoint, previously known as TeamApt, wasn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n

Oui Capital, founded by Olu Oyinsan<\/a> and Francesco Andreoli<\/a>,\u00a0was among its earliest investors and also one of the few to support the outfit\u2019s pivot to Moniepoint, a business banking and payments platform that has since become Nigeria\u2019s largest merchant acquirer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been with us through the stages, from seeking product-market fit to getting to production,\u201d Tosin Enioluwadara, Moniepoint co-founder and CEO, said of Oui Capital in a 2021 video<\/a>. \u201cOlu [managing partner at Oui Capital] has been helpful in advisory; we talk through strategy, governance, and key matters that affect the company. They have also been helpful in our investment campaigns, from introducing potential investors to sometimes just thinking around our narrative and positioning\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Exits in Africa\u2019s tech scene remain rare, with only 143 out of 2,971 venture deals<\/a> since 2019 leading to exits, according to The Big Deal. Most startups are still in their early or growth stages \u2014 far from the maturity needed for significant exits. Unlike developed markets with robust M&A and IPO options, Africa\u2019s tech ecosystem is still growing, leaving fewer startups in an exit-ready position.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, venture investments typically take 5\u201310 years to mature, so many African-focused VC firms still await returns. For Oui Capital, that wait took five years. When the firm joined Moniepoint\u2019s seed round, the company was valued at a $12.5 million valuation, as revealed in an investor report seen by TechCrunch.<\/p>\n

Anecdotally, smaller funds are easier to return due to their size. Data<\/a> from Cambridge Associates, which builds and manages investment portfolios for institutional investors, bucks up this trend. <\/p>\n

But more importantly, Oyinsan credits his fund\u2019s portfolio construction for the firm\u2019s traction to date. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about fund size\u2014it\u2019s about what you invest in, your entry price, how much equity you own, how much you invest, and when you decide to exit,\u201d he tells TechCrunch.<\/p>\n

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Other startups in Oui Capital\u2019s 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>, a B2B marketplace for chemicals, from its first fund, Mentors Fund 1. <\/p>\n

The investor, with 22 startups across two funds, writes checks of up to $400,000 for seed-stage startups across Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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 into fundraising due to its strong position, it might raise a third fund later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a recent investor meeting, early-stage African investor Oui Capital informed limited partners that it had returned its $4 million debut fund following the sale of some shares in the business banking platform Moniepoint. The African fintech unicorn has so far proven to be a standout investment for five-year-old Oui Capital. When it launched its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":650084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_9483.jpeg?w=1100","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[25562,153733,153734,153735,70917,151477],"class_list":["post-650083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-africa","tag-fund-return","tag-moniepoint","tag-oui-capital","tag-startups","tag-venture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}