Press release:
Madica, a structured pre-seed investment programme for African startups, today announced $6M in additional capital from Flourish Ventures to extend its investment pilot by three years. Building on lessons learned and early signs of traction across its portfolio, Madica will back 25-30 additional companies and deepen its company-building support for exceptional founders who are underserved by established venture capital networks. The extended pilot will build further evidence for Madica’s founding conviction: that these founders can build world-class businesses capable of generating venture returns when equipped with the right capital and support.
Launched in 2022, Madica set out to demonstrate that exceptional founders in Africa’s overlooked markets, sectors and networks can build globally competitive businesses with the right capital and support. The sector-agnostic programme has since backed 18 startups across 10 countries and 12 sectors, combining patient pre-seed capital with structured, hands-on company-building support. These companies have attracted, on average, twice Madica’s investment in additional funding, an early signal of investor confidence as they work towards the commercial outcomes needed to challenge prevailing assumptions about where venture-scale businesses can emerge in Africa.
The extended pilot will allow Madica to track how companies across a broader portfolio translate early traction into sustained business growth, examining the role of its investment and support model in that progress and assessing the potential to generate venture returns through exits. This continues the pilot’s original purpose: to build tangible evidence that can challenge assumptions about which founders and markets offer venture-scale opportunities in Africa. The findings will help refine Madica’s approach and provide practical lessons that other investors can adapt and apply.
“Madica was launched as an experiment to test whether pairing capital with hands-on company-building support could help overlooked founders building world-class businesses generate venture outcomes, and in many ways, our work sits at the intersection of the very many questions that underpin the state of early-stage venture investing in Africa. From the outset, we knew that gathering meaningful evidence would require years of investment, support and learning," said Emmanuel Adegboye, Head of Madica. “Three years have given us valuable lessons and encouraging early signals, but building enduring companies and assessing venture outcomes takes longer. Flourish Ventures’ continued commitment gives us the capital to build on those lessons and test our conviction across a broader portfolio while deepening our company-building support. We want the resulting evidence to give other investors a model they can apply, shaping where funding goes and how founders are backed across Africa, well beyond Madica”, he continued.
Today, Madica’s portfolio spans over a dozen sectors, including climate-tech, semiconductors, AI, HR, biotech, mobility and more, reflecting the breadth of innovation emerging across the continent. The diversity is also evident in the volume and reach of applications, which span 28 sectors and 78 countries, with 40% coming from outside Africa’s four largest venture capital markets. This signals both the depth of untapped entrepreneurial potential across Africa and the urgent need for more inclusive funding pathways. Every company in Madica’s portfolio is majority African-owned, more than 50% have at least one female co-founder, and 39% are led by female CEOs, demonstrating a deliberate approach to identifying and backing talent that established investment networks have often overlooked.
“We retain our conviction that with the right capital and support, exceptional talent across Africa can build world-class businesses. Madica’s first three years have strengthened that belief, and we are excited to continue backing the team as they help more entrepreneurs achieve that mission,” said Efayomi Carr, Investment Partner at Flourish Ventures and Co-founder of Madica.
Madica continues to seek exceptional founders building early-stage startups across Africa. To pitch your startup, visit the Madica website. Eligible startups must have a minimum viable product (MVP) with proven traction from a few paying customers, founder(s) engaged full-time, little or no institutional funding, and be headquartered in Africa.