Louis Furtwängler

I build African companies with their founders | Host, Term Sheet Tapes

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

@DrDotun is the Managing Partner at @vp_fund , one of Africa's leading seed-stage VC funds.

- PhD researcher → Flutterwave growth → CCO at Moniepoint → now running one of Africa's top seed funds
- Ventures Platform just closed a $75M fund, their new seed vehicle for Africa

In this episode we cover:

→ What patterns he saw while working with Flutterwave and Moniepoint
→ Why $100M is the maximum viable seed fund size in Africa
→ How the collapse of follow-on funding changed pre-seed investing
→ Why dedicated African investors will win
→ Why local investors are becoming critical for African fund managers

00:00 Intro
00:41 Revenue threshold for pre-seed startups
05:22 Africa valuation cap
08:30 Patterns in africa unicorns
12:33 Importance of revenue expansion
16:30 Importance of diversified revenue
18:45 Unicorns use commission based business model
22:40 Importance of local capital in African funds
27:06 Markets outside of the Big Four
29:27 Ideal fund size for seed investors
32:46 Ownership targets
33:35 Missed investments
34:49 Affects on valuation of US SaaS stocks
37:45 International investors
38:30 Closing

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

https://t.co/wiOmGdQupK

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Coen Jonker is the founder and CEO of Tyme Group.

Africa's 10th unicorn, valued at $1.5 billion after a $250 million Series D led by Nubank in December 2024.

With 22 million customers across South Africa and the Philippines, Tyme has become one of the fastest-growing digital banks in the world.

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

@ERUBAMI That's a good question. I'm sure they have dedicated teams for regulatory and also customer support.

I think they've done a very good job with balancing growth and profitability. What do you think?

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Coen Jonker is the founder and CEO of Tyme Group.

Africa's 10th unicorn, valued at $1.5 billion after a $250 million Series D led by Nubank in December 2024.

With 22 million customers across South Africa and the Philippines, Tyme has become one of the fastest-growing digital banks in the world.

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

African founders were forced to take the wrong capital for years.

Not because they wanted equity. Because debt didn't exist.

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

African founders were forced to take the wrong capital for years.

Not because they wanted equity. Because debt didn't exist.

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Monica Shupikai Simmons is Head of Private Capital at Rand Merchant Bank, one of Africa's largest banks.

Her team helps funds and corporates raise international capital and right now, she's watching the entire LP landscape transform.

In this episode, Monica breaks down why DFIs are pulling back, where new capital is flowing from (hint: Japan and the Middle East), and why Africa's "exit problem" isn't what most people think.

00:00 Intro
00:51 What Monica does at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)
02:15 Change in LP expectations
04:14 How LP's view Africa
07:29 China's involvement in funds
08:59 Impact of Iran war on capital flows
11:36 Private Equity in Africa
15:36 The raising role of debt
18:06 What financing founders should use
21:16 Exits & liquidity in Africa
26:20 Positioning for M&A
31:40 Going public in Africa
35:12 The future of African private markets
38:50 Quickfire

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Watch the full episode here: https://t.co/475p8eIJr6

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Monica Shupikai Simmons is Head of Private Capital at Rand Merchant Bank, one of Africa's largest banks.

Her team helps funds and corporates raise international capital and right now, she's watching the entire LP landscape transform.

In this episode, Monica breaks down why DFIs are pulling back, where new capital is flowing from (hint: Japan and the Middle East), and why Africa's "exit problem" isn't what most people think.

00:00 Intro
00:51 What Monica does at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)
02:15 Change in LP expectations
04:14 How LP's view Africa
07:29 China's involvement in funds
08:59 Impact of Iran war on capital flows
11:36 Private Equity in Africa
15:36 The raising role of debt
18:06 What financing founders should use
21:16 Exits & liquidity in Africa
26:20 Positioning for M&A
31:40 Going public in Africa
35:12 The future of African private markets
38:50 Quickfire

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

African funds used to count on Development Finance Institutions for 70% of their raise.

That ratio is collapsing. And nobody has a clean answer for what replaces it.

Monica is Head of Private Capital at Rand Merchant Bank, one of the largest banks on the continent.

Her team helps African funds and corporates raise international capital.

Here's what's breaking:

→ A fund raising $150M used to count on $100M from DFIs
→ The remaining $50M came from family offices, high net worths, maybe a local pension fund
→ That split no longer holds. DFI check sizes are shrinking across the board

Link to the full episode in the comments 👇🏾

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

African funds used to count on Development Finance Institutions for 70% of their raise.

That ratio is collapsing. And nobody has a clean answer for what replaces it.

Monica is Head of Private Capital at Rand Merchant Bank, one of the largest banks on the continent.

Her team helps African funds and corporates raise international capital.

Here's what's breaking:

→ A fund raising $150M used to count on $100M from DFIs
→ The remaining $50M came from family offices, high net worths, maybe a local pension fund
→ That split no longer holds. DFI check sizes are shrinking across the board

Link to the full episode in the comments 👇🏾

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Monica Shupikai Simmons is Head of Private Capital at Rand Merchant Bank, one of Africa's largest banks.

Her team helps funds and corporates raise international capital and right now, she's watching the entire LP landscape transform.

In this episode, Monica breaks down why DFIs are pulling back, where new capital is flowing from (hint: Japan and the Middle East), and why Africa's "exit problem" isn't what most people think.

00:00 Intro
00:51 What Monica does at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)
02:15 Change in LP expectations
04:14 How LP's view Africa
07:29 China's involvement in funds
08:59 Impact of Iran war on capital flows
11:36 Private Equity in Africa
15:36 The raising role of debt
18:06 What financing founders should use
21:16 Exits & liquidity in Africa
26:20 Positioning for M&A
31:40 Going public in Africa
35:12 The future of African private markets
38:50 Quickfire

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Monica Shupikai Simmons is Head of Private Capital at Rand Merchant Bank, one of Africa's largest banks.

Her team helps funds and corporates raise international capital and right now, she's watching the entire LP landscape transform.

In this episode, Monica breaks down why DFIs are pulling back, where new capital is flowing from (hint: Japan and the Middle East), and why Africa's "exit problem" isn't what most people think.

00:00 Intro
00:51 What Monica does at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)
02:15 Change in LP expectations
04:14 How LP's view Africa
07:29 China's involvement in funds
08:59 Impact of Iran war on capital flows
11:36 Private Equity in Africa
15:36 The raising role of debt
18:06 What financing founders should use
21:16 Exits & liquidity in Africa
26:20 Positioning for M&A
31:40 Going public in Africa
35:12 The future of African private markets
38:50 Quickfire

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

The valuation compression in US software companies is impacting African startups.

But not in the way most people think.

@DrDotun , Managing Partner at @vp_fund , breaks down the mechanism that most people are missing.

It comes down to arbitrage:

→ A $500M fund investing mainly in North America spots a comparable African business
→ Same revenue. Lower valuation. Easy internal pitch: get in cheap, wait for the gap to close.
→ Even at a discount, everyone sees the upside

That logic only works when US multiples are high.

Now that US valuations have compressed, the spread disappears, and so do the opportunistic investors who were chasing it.

What's left: dedicated funds focused on Africa. Not global players passing through when the math made sense.

Less capital. Harder follow-on assumptions. A fundraising environment every African founder needs to understand.

Watch the full episode here👇🏾

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

The valuation compression in US software companies is impacting African startups.

But not in the way most people think.

@DrDotun , Managing Partner at @vp_fund , breaks down the mechanism that most people are missing.

It comes down to arbitrage:

→ A $500M fund investing mainly in North America spots a comparable African business
→ Same revenue. Lower valuation. Easy internal pitch: get in cheap, wait for the gap to close.
→ Even at a discount, everyone sees the upside

That logic only works when US multiples are high.

Now that US valuations have compressed, the spread disappears, and so do the opportunistic investors who were chasing it.

What's left: dedicated funds focused on Africa. Not global players passing through when the math made sense.

Less capital. Harder follow-on assumptions. A fundraising environment every African founder needs to understand.

Watch the full episode here👇🏾

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

@DrDotun is the Managing Partner at @vp_fund , one of Africa's leading seed-stage VC funds.

- PhD researcher → Flutterwave growth → CCO at Moniepoint → now running one of Africa's top seed funds
- Ventures Platform just closed a $75M fund, their new seed vehicle for Africa

In this episode we cover:

→ What patterns he saw while working with Flutterwave and Moniepoint
→ Why $100M is the maximum viable seed fund size in Africa
→ How the collapse of follow-on funding changed pre-seed investing
→ Why dedicated African investors will win
→ Why local investors are becoming critical for African fund managers

00:00 Intro
00:41 Revenue threshold for pre-seed startups
05:22 Africa valuation cap
08:30 Patterns in africa unicorns
12:33 Importance of revenue expansion
16:30 Importance of diversified revenue
18:45 Unicorns use commission based business model
22:40 Importance of local capital in African funds
27:06 Markets outside of the Big Four
29:27 Ideal fund size for seed investors
32:46 Ownership targets
33:35 Missed investments
34:49 Affects on valuation of US SaaS stocks
37:45 International investors
38:30 Closing

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

https://t.co/e4zaNINBTp

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

@DrDotun is the Managing Partner at @vp_fund , one of Africa's leading seed-stage VC funds.

- PhD researcher → Flutterwave growth → CCO at Moniepoint → now running one of Africa's top seed funds
- Ventures Platform just closed a $75M fund, their new seed vehicle for Africa

In this episode we cover:

→ What patterns he saw while working with Flutterwave and Moniepoint
→ Why $100M is the maximum viable seed fund size in Africa
→ How the collapse of follow-on funding changed pre-seed investing
→ Why dedicated African investors will win
→ Why local investors are becoming critical for African fund managers

00:00 Intro
00:41 Revenue threshold for pre-seed startups
05:22 Africa valuation cap
08:30 Patterns in africa unicorns
12:33 Importance of revenue expansion
16:30 Importance of diversified revenue
18:45 Unicorns use commission based business model
22:40 Importance of local capital in African funds
27:06 Markets outside of the Big Four
29:27 Ideal fund size for seed investors
32:46 Ownership targets
33:35 Missed investments
34:49 Affects on valuation of US SaaS stocks
37:45 International investors
38:30 Closing

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

Africa has produced 9 unicorns.

8 of them didn't get there by selling a product.

@DrDotun , Managing Partner at @vp_fund , studied what actually built Africa's billion-dollar companies.

→ 3 revenue models exist: margin, subscription, commission
→ Almost every African unicorn runs on commission
→ They build rails, platforms, infrastructure. Then they take a cut
→ The end customer earns more because of the startup, not less

Why this works in Africa specifically:

→ Most businesses are small and informal
→ The number one aspiration is to make more revenue & earn more income
→ A startup that increases their revenue earns loyalty and scale

"Any business that can enable them to increase their income will particularly succeed."

We also covered:

→ What patterns he saw while working with Flutterwave and Moniepoint
→ Why $100M is the maximum viable seed fund size in Africa
→ How the collapse of follow-on funding changed pre-seed investing
→ Why dedicated African investors will win
→ Why local investors are becoming critical for African fund managers

Full episode below 👇🏾

[Louis Furtwängler @louisfurt]

@DrDotun is the Managing Partner at @vp_fund , one of Africa's leading seed-stage VC funds.

- PhD researcher → Flutterwave growth → CCO at Moniepoint → now running one of Africa's top seed funds
- Ventures Platform just closed a $75M fund, their new seed vehicle for Africa

In this episode we cover:

→ What patterns he saw while working with Flutterwave and Moniepoint
→ Why $100M is the maximum viable seed fund size in Africa
→ How the collapse of follow-on funding changed pre-seed investing
→ Why dedicated African investors will win
→ Why local investors are becoming critical for African fund managers

00:00 Intro
00:41 Revenue threshold for pre-seed startups
05:22 Africa valuation cap
08:30 Patterns in africa unicorns
12:33 Importance of revenue expansion
16:30 Importance of diversified revenue
18:45 Unicorns use commission based business model
22:40 Importance of local capital in African funds
27:06 Markets outside of the Big Four
29:27 Ideal fund size for seed investors
32:46 Ownership targets
33:35 Missed investments
34:49 Affects on valuation of US SaaS stocks
37:45 International investors
38:30 Closing