Top 20 Beauty Startup Investors in Africa in May 2026

WELLNESS TO THE WORLD igniteXL Ventures is a global seed fund investing in game-changing founders at the intersection of technology, beauty

Investment focus

Beauty, Fashion, Software
Seed, Pre-Seed, Funding Round
United States, South Korea, Kenya

Portfolio highlights

buywith — buywith is a video commerce platform enabling retailers and brands to transform their e-commerce into engaging shoppable videos and dynamic video-led experiences, including an AI-powered digital studio for creating video ads for retail media at scale.
Lion Pose — Daily Skincare Products for People of Color
Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

CREATING a More Inclusive Future Samata Capital accelerates equal access to capital and opportunity for talented entrepreneurs in emerging markets. We inten ...

Investment focus

Beauty, Retail, Consumer
Seed, Series A
Kenya, Nigeria

Portfolio highlights

ReelFruit — On a mission to inspire delightfulness by offering the tastiest snacks in town.
Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

Trond Riiber Knudsen is a Founder of TRK GROUP.

Investment focus

Software, SaaS, E-Commerce
Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
Norway, United States, Kenya

Portfolio highlights

OTee — OTee's Industrial Automation platform makes it possible to create and manage industrial-grade virtual control systems, based on open standards and architecture!
Ciloo — The global brand management platform for local, on-demand production of branded products. Reduce costs, waste + shipping distances. Full brand control.
Starflow — Starflow goal is to create a scalable energy system that helps people achieve energy independence.

Show all investments...

Build your next company with Antler, a global day zero investor enabling exceptional founders to start great companies, from the very beginning. Apply now!

Investment focus

Software, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology
Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Synthium — Synthium offers Cognition-as-a-Service (CaaS) for consumer robotics, using gamified web-based simulations to crowdsource human cognitive data for training robot AI models. Users engage in robotics tasks like spatial navigation via webcam and microphone inputs, generating diverse datasets for model training across robot types such as humanoids anddrones. Data captures human intuition in dynamic environments, enabling scalable AI development without physical robots.
Alchemyst AI — Alchemyst AI is an innovative generative AI software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup that leverages cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to deliver unique solutions tailored to various industries. Alchemyst aims to empower businesses to harness the potential of generative AI for enhanced creativity, efficiency, and decision-making.We arebuilding force multipliers within teams across various verticals - starting with Maya, our first Alchemyst for Sales Development. We would soon be horizontally scaling to other roles as well, integrating into wherever you work.Since inception, we have taken a bottom-up approach to building our platform as opposed to a top-down approach usually seen in SaaS products - keeping the client experience first.
Cooper Pet Care — Just Russel honden- en kattenvoeding op maat. Op basis van ras, leeftijd, gezondheid en gewicht. Makkelijker voor jou, beter voor je huisdier!

Show all investments...

Systematic Pre-Seed Startup Capital

Investment focus

Software, SaaS, Information Technology
Seed, Pre-Seed, Convertible Note
United States, Canada, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Cohley — Cohley is a content marketing platform focusing on user generated content, visual asset creation, and text review generation. Streamline your content generation today!
HelloHero — Quality pediatric therapy for children with developmental, behavioral, emotional & physical challenges. Learn more here.
Benefitbay — Our ICHRA administration platform includes real-time plan modeling and a best-in-class premium payment solution. All backed by direct, human support.

Show all investments...

Kwehnui Tawah is the Head of Platform Services + Special Projects at Sokowatch. He attended the University of Chicago.

Investment focus

Beauty, Retail, Consumer
Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

Camilla Hagen Sørli

Investment focus

Beauty, Retail, Consumer
Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

Acumen is a nonprofit venture fund that invests in early-stage companies bringing critical services like agriculture, clean energy, education, financial inclusion, healthcare and workforce development to low-income communities in 14 countries across East and West Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the United States. Since 2001, Acumeninvested $128 million in 128 companies that have transformed the lives of over 308 million low-income people.

Investment focus

Health Care, Agriculture, Financial Services
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
United States, India, Kenya

Portfolio highlights

BioMassters — Biomassers aim to replace charcoal production and charcoal cooking by providing modern, affordable, and low-carbon pellet fuel production and cooking solutions based on locally produced fuel from waste materials.
Reema Health — Transforming the way people navigate the gaps between health care and social care. Reema combines a 24/7 AI-based confidant with in-person community guides to help people meet their social needs.
Raino Tech4Impact — Raino Tech4Impact is a social enterprise that leverages technology as an enabler to empower African communities. We have been deploying technology-driven solutions in agriculture and health, powered by renewable energy to achieve sustainability.

Show all investments...

Peter anker

Investment focus

Beauty, Retail, Consumer
Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

Renew Capital is an Africa-focused investment firm that addresses critical gaps for Africa’s growing businesses and connects them to a global network of impact investors.

Investment focus

Mobile Apps, Financial Services, Finance
Pre-Seed, Funding Round, Seed
Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia

Portfolio highlights

Bosso — Bosso projects and realizes automation and robotic solutions for the growth of your business.
Chpter — Chpter is a software development company that offers fast billing and checkout to help start, run, and grow a business.
Level Africa — Digital Investment Marketplace for Africa

Show all investments...

Pierre Martensson

Investment focus

Beauty, Retail, Consumer
Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

Patricia Ithau

Investment focus

Beauty, Retail, Fashion
Seed, Pre-Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Shop Zetu — Shop the latest trendy fashion, beauty and accessory brands in Kenya online! Discover affordable clothing, footwear, accessories, beauty products and more. Order today from Shop Zetu.
Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

GreenTec Capital Partners is Germany's premier investor into African start-ups and SMEs. GreenTec invests through its unique Results4Equity model, acting as a co-founding partner that is only compensated on business success.

Investment focus

Information Technology, Retail, Computer
Seed, Funding Round, Pre-Seed
Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco

Portfolio highlights

Ecodudu — Ecodudu is a waste-to-value company. It uses a proprietary innovation to recycle organic waste into high-protein animal feed and organic fertilizer using the black soldier fly. It harnesses insects (nature’s recycling agents) to address global issues which include waste management, demand for protein, and environmental conservation.
Asilimia — Asilimia is a simple, fun mobile app for sending money through M-PESA quickly and without any transaction fees. Simply deposit money to your M-PESA, download Asilimia and send money for free to any other M-PESA account.
ShapShap — ShapShap enhances delivery experience through its commission-based marketplace by assigning efficient orders to drivers to ensure their sustainability and scalability.

Show all investments...

FirstCheck Africa is an early believer for a generation of African women in tech. We invest early, with high conviction, in high-growth female-led startups with category-leadership potential.

Investment focus

Consumer, Payments, Financial Services
Pre-Seed, Seed
Kenya, Nigeria, United States

Portfolio highlights

Jumba — Jumba is the trusted digital partner for hardware stores. Through tech, we support hardware stores to grow. Get cement at unbeatable prices. Access cement LPOs even at midnight. Get inventory on credit through Jengwa.
Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.
Cleva — For anyone with global financial needs, A US-based dollar account in your name to receive, hold, and save USD.

Show all investments...

CDG Invest is the investment branch of the CDG group. CDG Invest acts both as an investment manager for its own account following both financial and strategic logic, as well as as a fund manager for third parties. CDG Invest intervenes in various key sectors of the Moroccan economy: industry, agro-food, digital/digital, renewable energy, andterritorial PPP and with various segments of companies.

Investment focus

Apps, Software, Internet
Pre-Seed, Seed, Funding Round
Morocco, France, Switzerland

Portfolio highlights

Yakeey — Yakeey is an end-to-end transactional marketplace that radically simplifies the experience of buying, selling and renting real estate.We leverage on data and technology to connect all real estate market players through a state of the art platform, create a chain of trust and powerful network effects and accelerate transactions.Yakeey is builton a community of real estate advisors, YakeeyPRO, to deliver a continuous professional and tailored service at every step of the transaction.
VelyVelo — Discover VelyVelo, the specialist in the rental, servicing and maintenance of electric bicycles for professionals in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseille.
Userguest.com — Userguest is a Travel SaaS company that provides technology to hotels in order to improve their online revenue. Our smart tool applies RevMarketing Automation to hotel website, by matching a user’s booking intent with the hotel’s inventory priorities. We display personalized incentives to boost hotel revenue where it counts.

Show all investments...

Future Africa is a collective of mission-driven founders and funders building unicorns to solve Africa’s biggest challenges. They are build a future where purpose and prosperity are within everyone’s reach.

Investment focus

Financial Services, FinTech, Information Technology
Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
Nigeria, United States, Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Edves — Edves automates the brick and mortal School operations from Student enrollment, Fee Collection, Lesson Note up to Transcript Generation.
Finclusion Group — Enhancing financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa through data driven lending.
Nexford University — Transform your career with affordable, flexible degrees and job skills designed for today's workforce. Skip debt and learn at your own pace with Nexford.

Show all investments...

Evergreen venture capital investing in Seed to Series A startups across MENA and Africa. 27 active investments, $71.8M portfolio NAV, 17% IRR.

Investment focus

E-Commerce, Retail, Advertising
Series A, Seed, Series B
United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan

Portfolio highlights

Flowcart — Sukhiba is a decentralized community-based commerce platform.
Tern Group — Tern Group is an AI Platform to hire and relocate top healthcare talents globally, faster and cheaper. TERN is a full-stack solution to source and relocate top-tier medical and engineering talent from India, North Africa, South Africa, and Central Asia and the approach ensures a seamless, ethical, and transparent migration process, drasticallycutting complexity and shaving costs for healthcare systems.
Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...

FirstCheck Africa is an early believer for a generation of African women in tech. We invest early, with high conviction, in high-growth female-led startups with category-leadership potential.

Investment focus

Consumer, Payments, Financial Services
Pre-Seed, Seed
Kenya, Nigeria, United States

Portfolio highlights

Jumba — Jumba is the trusted digital partner for hardware stores. Through tech, we support hardware stores to grow. Get cement at unbeatable prices. Access cement LPOs even at midnight. Get inventory on credit through Jengwa.
Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.
Cleva — For anyone with global financial needs, A US-based dollar account in your name to receive, hold, and save USD.

Show all investments...

Kiprono Elvis Terigin

Investment focus

Beauty, Retail, Consumer
Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Uncover — Dermatologist-tested K-Beauty formulas powered by African botanicals for melanin-rich skin. Shop SPF 50 sunscreen, serums & kits with free Kenya shipping.

Show all investments...