Ventures Platform is a Nigeria-based, pan-African venture capital firm investing in founders solving for non-consumption, plugging infrastructural gaps, and democratizing prosperity across the continent. Founded by Kola Aina, who formalized his investment activity into the firm in 2016, Ventures Platform has backed more than 75 active portfolio companies across six-plus African countries, including Paystack, PiggyVest, SeamlessHR, and Remedial Health.
Ventures Platform runs three entry strategies;, pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A, and follows its existing portfolio companies into Series A, though it rarely writes a first check at that stage.
With Fund II, the firm is deploying much larger initial checks and targeting entry ownership stakes of 10% to 12%, up from smaller stakes in Fund I, after concluding that entry ownership is the single biggest driver of returns given how heavily the firm relies on secondary sales for liquidity.
The firm's research with Stears found that 73% of African venture exits happen through acquisitions rather than IPOs, which founding partner Kola Aina calls "somewhat mythical" for the continent.
Portfolio construction is built around currency risk: the firm diversifies geographically (recently adding team members covering Francophone West Africa from Abidjan and North Africa from Cairo), sets a growth bar high enough to outpace local currency devaluation and inflation, and favors business models that naturally generate foreign-exchange revenue.
Ventures Platform closed VP Pan-African Fund II at $84 million in August 2026, 1.8 times the size of its $46 million debut fund (closed December 2022).
The fund reached a $64 million first close in November 2025 backed by Nigeria's iDICE programme (an anchor LP that wrote one of the fund's largest individual checks), the International Finance Corporation, Standard Bank, British International Investment, Proparco (via the EU-backed Choose Africa programme), Egypt's MSMEDA, AfricaGrow, and Alder Tree Investment.
The final close added four new institutional backers, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Norway's Norfund, Dutch family office Alphatron, and the Ashesi University Foundation, alongside a consortium of new family offices. Private capital, particularly European family offices, makes up a larger share of Fund II than it did of Fund I.
Leadership
Venture partners and senior investment team include Aicha Toure, Desigan Chinniah, Elo Umeh, Dolapo Morgan (Investment Principal), Damilola Teidi-Ayoola (Head of Platform & Networks), Hady Barry (Senior Investment Associate, Francophone Africa), and Yassin Tamer (Investment Associate, North Africa).
Investment Strategy
Kola Aina has led investment in more than 70 companies across Africa, India, and the US, including early backing of Paystack. Dotun Olowoporoku previously served as Principal at Novastar Ventures and Chief Commercial Officer at Moniepoint. The firm's overall track record spans more than 75 active portfolio companies across six-plus countries, with portfolio companies having raised over $1 billion in follow-on capital and more than 140 founders backed to date.
Notable Investments
Kola Aina — Founding Partner
k@venturesplatform.com
Dotun Olowoporoku — Managing Partner
dotun@venturesplatform.com
Dolapo Morgan — Investment Principal
dolapo@venturesplatform.com
Hady Berry — Senior Investment Associate
hady@venturesplatform.com
Nigeria
