Chui Ventures, a prominent firm focusing on seed-stage investments in Sub-Saharan Africa, has officially announced the final close of its debut fund, securing a total of $17.3 million. This amount significantly surpassed the firm’s initial target of $10 million, demonstrating strong investor confidence despite the challenging current global fundraising environment for African Venture Capital. The fund, which operates out of Nairobi and Lagos, secured capital from major institutional backers, including the highly influential Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. What makes this fund closure particularly notable is its significant reliance on private, local capital. Chui Ventures reported that over 30 High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) participated, with an impressive 90% of this group being of African origin and 60% comprised of African female executives. This level of engagement from a demographic often underrepresented in the continent’s venture capital asset class is a powerful signal that local capital allocators are increasingly stepping in to fill the liquidity gap left by cooling international investors.
The firm’s core investment thesis revolves around the “mass market,” specifically targeting tech-enabled products and services designed for everyday African consumers and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Chui Ventures is strategically betting on the continent’s potent demographic dividend, leveraging the rapidly growing digital adoption among a population with a median age of roughly 19. This strategy aims to support companies that can “leapfrog” traditional infrastructure limitations in key service sectors.
Since its first close in February 2023, Chui has maintained an active deployment schedule, investing 60% of its committed capital into 18 companies, nearing its final target portfolio of 22 ventures. The portfolio is strategically concentrated across five Sub-Saharan countries and covers crucial sectors such as fintech, healthtech, agritech, and logistics. Portfolio companies include Pricepally (a Nigerian online grocery platform), Leta (a Kenya-based supply chain SaaS provider), and Flex Finance (a spend management platform). Early performance metrics are highly encouraging, with five portfolio companies having successfully secured follow-on rounds at increased valuations, and several projected to reach profitability within the next year.
While not designated strictly as a “gender fund,” Chui maintains a robust gender-inclusive mandate, reporting that 44% of its portfolio companies feature female founding teams. The firm tracks job creation as a core impact metric, stating its portfolio has already generated over 1,200 direct jobs and an estimated 40,000 indirect positions, often utilized by gig workers and agents. Managed by General Partner Joyce-Ann Wainaina, a veteran corporate banker and former Managing Director for Citibank Sub-Saharan Africa, the team brings a combined 60 years of finance experience. With Fund I successfully closed and largely deployed, Chui Ventures is already preparing for Fund II, signaling an ambitious target corpus of $60 million with a hard cap of $100 million. The successor fund will replicate the mass market strategy but will expand its geographic scope to include North Africa and tighten its sector focus on high-growth areas like financial services, B2B software, digital commerce, and climate tech.
