Investment
Program Lead
Beyond Nigeria — into Africa and global markets. From early seed capital and blended-finance follow-on links to a Korea IR internship, we close every growth gap.
Section 01 — Funding Roadmap
A three-stage roadmap — Seed → Pre-A → Series A–B — sequentially connects government, private, and MDB capital sources to the maturity of each business.
We link in the SMEDAN Youth Fund and KOICA early seed capital to get founders past the first hurdle, securing initial runway with non-dilutive grant and impact-fund money.
Local VC partnerships and government (BOI) matching funds power follow-on capital, while an IR-readiness program (IRP) shapes the founder's first institutional round.
Blended finance from MDBs like AfDB and IFC, matched with international impact funds, supports large-scale scale-up — and global VC networks open the follow-on rounds.
Section 02 — Korea IR Internship
Eight top-selected startups are invited to Korea for 2–3 months. They join Korea's flagship global startup programs — K-Startup Grand Challenge, ComeUp — building direct relationships with Korean and Asian investors and designing follow-on rounds.
Cohort
Top 8 teams selected
Duration
2 — 3 months in Korea
Programs
K-Startup · ComeUp
1:1 meetings with Korean AC and VC operators, live demo days and IR pitches, and matching with global impact funds — not field trips, but rooms where real investment negotiation happens.
Section 03 — Global Stage
GITEX Africa · Africa Tech Festival
Standout teams join Africa's flagship tech festivals — GITEX Africa, Africa Tech Festival — to open new markets and meet investors face to face.
AfDB · IFC · Impact Funds
Match the blended-finance resources of AfDB and IFC with international impact funds to open a channel for Series A–B scale-up capital.
Section 04 — Target Outcomes
The Investment stage is proven in numbers — capital raised, follow-on conversion, and regional expansion are managed against designed targets.
Across Seed to Series B and combining government matching, VC, and MDB blended finance, we design for 5M USD+ raised per program cohort.
Within six months of finishing the program, the goal is for 80%+ of teams to enter a follow-on round or secure a concrete matching opportunity.
From Nigeria, we stand up a tech-exchange hub linking 15 ECOWAS countries with Korea and global markets — opening gateways for graduate teams.
Related Archive
We've archived the Korea IR stages and global investor meetings — see the outputs of the Investment stage in pictures.
