Wale Ayeni
Regional Head Africa Venture Capital @ International Finance Corporation
San Francisco, United States
Wale Ayeni is a seed investor at International Finance Corporation in San Francisco focused on E-Commerce and B2B. Wale Ayeni leads the IFC’s Venture Capital practice focused on Africa, South of the Sahara – the International Finance Organization is part of the World Bank Group. The IFC’s Venture capital team invests in technology companies in frontier markets, and has deployed over ~$800MM in early/growth stage tech investments over the past decade.IFC’s early/growth stage tech portfolio in Africa includes Andela(Edtech); Africa’s talking(APIs), Fawry (Fintech), Interswitch(Fintech), Mobisol(Cleantech), TwigaFoods(mCommerce), Zoona(Fintech), etc. Wale has a global technology experience spanning several roles including Venture Capital, Investment Banking, Corporate Development, and Microprocessor & ASIC chip design. Prior to the IFC, Wale led venture capital early-stage investments in disruptive start-ups across various technology sectors for Orange in Silicon Valley with representative investments in the US including PayJoy(FinTech), Veniam(Mesh Networks), Chain (Blockchain, acquired), WEVR (Virtual Reality).Wale started his finance career with J.P. Morgan’s Technology Investment Banking group in San Francisco where he successfully executed over $12 Billion worth of closed transactions spanning mergers & acquisitions to IPOs for large-cap technology clients including Facebook, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, Intel Corp., AMD, Shutterfly, etc.Wale started his career as an Engineer, and in his previous technology career Wale was a microprocessor design Engineer with Intel Corp. where he led critical aspects of Intel’s “CSI” chip architecture – the biggest micro-architecture change in Intel’s history. He also led aspects of the very first “Snapdragon” chipsets working at Qualcomm Inc.’s chip design center enabling the initial smartphone designs.Wale has an MBA from Tuck, Dartmouth College, and his Bachelor’s degree with distinguished “Red diploma” from Moscow University. He is a Kauffman Venture Capital Fellow and a recipient of the top global 100 Rising Stars award in Corporate Venture.
- Total investments:
- 4
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 75%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Wale Ayeni invests in
Stages Wale Ayeni invests in
Countries Wale Ayeni invests in
Contacts
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Investment Focus
Industry
- E-Commerce 2 (50%)
- B2B 1 (25%)
- Medical 1 (25%)
- Big Data 1 (25%)
- Internet 1 (25%)
Stage
- Seed 1 (25%)
- Series B 1 (25%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 1 (25%)
Country
- Nigeria 2 (50%)
- United States 1 (25%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Galatea Bio
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Galatea Bio, a US-based biotechnology company was founder by Carlos Bustamante, Nicholas Katsanis and Alexander Ioannidis. Our mission is to drive groundbreaking discoveries in healthcare by pairing genetic diversity with cutting-edge data analytics. Our passion is fueled by a focus on populations historically underrepresented in genetics research.We achieve this by leveraging our world-class clinical network and biobank, cutting-edge algorithms, and innovative analyses to discover and validate new tests, treatments, and cures that will improve the lives of all. | $8M / Venture - Series Unknown / Mar 27, 2025 | |
TradeDepot
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TradeDepot is an end-to-end distribution platform that connects the world's top consumer goods companies directly to retailers on the streets of Africa's cities. With its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, TradeDepot’s aim is to build the largest retail distribution network in Africa. The company was founded in 2016, with a mission toimprove milk distribution to smaller retailers on the continent, using technology. Today, the company is scaling the same technology to improve the distribution of food, beverages and personal care products to retailers, and to improve livelihoods for these retail store owners. | $42M / Series B / Dec 06, 2021 | |
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TradeDepot
|
TradeDepot is an end-to-end distribution platform that connects the world's top consumer goods companies directly to retailers on the streets of Africa's cities. With its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, TradeDepot’s aim is to build the largest retail distribution network in Africa. The company was founded in 2016, with a mission toimprove milk distribution to smaller retailers on the continent, using technology. Today, the company is scaling the same technology to improve the distribution of food, beverages and personal care products to retailers, and to improve livelihoods for these retail store owners. | $10M / Series B / Jul 14, 2020 | |
Printivo
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Printivo.com is disrupting the Nigerian printing industry through its efficient printing expertise, wide range of design templates and the reach of the internet. Printivo is an online print provider that provides its customers with free templates created by designers across Nigeria. Printivo aims to help Nigeria business print marketing andbusiness materials with ease. | Seed |
Co-Investors
The International Finance Corporation is a member of the World Bank Group that focuses on private sector development in developing countries. It provides financial and advisory services to support economic activities. It serves various industries, including infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, and financial services.
International Finance Corporation Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Azam Khan
Country Manager Indonesia, Malaysia and Timor-Leste
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Georgina Baker
Regional Vice President- Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia
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Hoi Ying So
Co-Head and Global Portfolio Manager, Disruptive Technologies and Venture Capital
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Juan Gonzalo Flores
Country Manager
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Kyle Kelhofer
Senior Country Manager
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FAQ
What does Wale Ayeni invest in?
Wale Ayeni invests primarily in E-Commerce, B2B and Medical startups, most often at Seed and Series B stage. Most of the 4 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Nigeria. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
How do I contact Wale Ayeni?
Public channels for Wale Ayeni include LinkedIn. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Wale Ayeni last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Wale Ayeni closed in Mar 2025. Shizune tracks 4 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Sep 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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