Top 15 Publishing Startup Investors in Africa in January 2025
A list of 15 angel investors and VC (Venture Capital) funds that invest in Publishing startups based in Africa. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Publishing companies from Africa. We update this investor list every month.Top 15 Publishing Startup Investors in Africa in January 2025
Investor | Publishing Africa investments |
---|---|
Miles Morland | 5 |
Grenfell Holdings | 2 |
SOSV | 2 |
Artha Group | 2 |
Eric Okechukwu | 1 |
Niche Capital | 1 |
Rajesh Sawhney | 1 |
Tom Berckt | 1 |
CDG Invest | 1 |
Orbit Startups | 1 |
Dr Ritesh Malik | 1 |
Renew Capital | 1 |
Michael Leeman | 1 |
AR/VR Africa | 1 |
Vinny Lingham | 1 |
Miles co-founded DPI in 2007 after having become non-executive Chairman of Blakeney Management (Blakeney) in July 2006 by which time the firm was considered to be one of the largest portfolio investors in many African stock markets. Blakeney was set up by Miles in 1990, first as a consultancy and, since 1994, as an asset management firm, investingin Africa and the Middle East. Blakeney was one of the first investors in many African markets and Miles played an active role in the development of markets in countries such as Ghana, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya and Tunisia.Before starting Blakeney, Miles spent 22 years in money management and investment banking in London and on Wall Street.Miles is also on the boards of SABMiller plc, the world’s second largest brewer and SouthWest Energy (BVI) Ltd, an Ethiopian oil exploration company. He was the founder and chairman for five years of the London Business School’s Africa Board. He read Law at the University of Oxford. Miles is a British citizen.
Show more
Investment focus
- Internet, Education, Publishing
- Pre-Seed
- Mozambique
Portfolio highlights
- Ethale Books App — The Ethale Books App by Ethale Publishing is the first-ever East African multilingual book app featuring local content. It is one of the first in the developing world to be specifically designed for android mobile phones and not e-readers. The trilingual app will make books available in Portuguese, Swahili and English for free, with revenuesustained via a mobile advertising strategy.
Grenfell Holdings is an investment company based in Hong Kong.
Show more
Investment focus
- Internet, Logistics, Consulting
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Kenya, Uganda, Senegal
Portfolio highlights
- Badili — Badili is a one-stop shop for buying and selling used and refurbished phones. Founded in 2021 and is based in Nairobi.
- Yobante Express — Yobante Express offers a web & mobile platform that connects retailers, businesses & individuals with carriers for point-to-point delivery.
- Rocket Health Africa — Rocket Health is a bundled service of The Medical Concierge Group, a licensed and registered clinic, laboratory, and pharmacy. Rocket Health offers telemedicine healthcare services such as doctor consultations, laboratory sample pickups, and medicine delivery.
SOSV is a global, deep tech venture capital firm that operates the HAX and IndieBio startup development programs focused on human and planetary health. SOSV invests $500,000 in startups at their inception as they onboard either HAX or IndieBio for a 4-6 month period designed to accelerate the raise of their next institutional round. SOSV joins thelater rounds of HAX and IndieBio graduates.
HAX, based in a 35,000 sq ft facility in Newark, NJ, is equipped with machine tools, 3D printers, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering labs, as well as on-staff engineering and design experts. SOSV's IndieBio has locations in NYC and San Francisco, both of which offer extensive services and facilities to founders including on-site BSL-2 labs, well equipped lab benches and hoods, and advanced lab equipment, such as chromatography equipment.
Show more
Investment focus
- Biotechnology, Health Care, Software
- Seed, Convertible Note, Pre-Seed
- United States, India, United Kingdom
Portfolio highlights
- MixRift — MIXRIFT - game developers specialized in Mixed Reality
- unspun — From 3D scan to perfect fitting custom jeans. unspun makes each pair of jeans unique to your actual body and design. On a mission to reduce global carbon emissions by 1%. As seen in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas, Time's Best Inventions, and PopSci's Best of What's New. Welcome to the future of apparel.
- Mesa Quantum — Unlock the potential of chip-scale quantum sensing for enhanced Position, Navigation, And Timing capabilities. Explore Mesa Quantum's practical solutions.
Artha India Ventures' league of member Angel Investors mentor and invest in nascent ventures with business ideas that create value by participating in the entrepreneurial process. AIV have invested in more than 47 start-ups and has diversified portfolio ranging from last minute hotel bookings (HotelsAroundYou.com), to classes aggregators(FindUrClass.com), cosmetic ecommerce (Purplle.com) and at home salon services (The Home Salon). From microfinance credit rating platforms (Inventure) to online interview platforms (Talview), electronic repair & insurance companies (PickMeIndia.com), Cloud Telephone (Exotel.com) and Cab Aggregators (BookMyCab.com) the portfolio has it all.
Show more
Investment focus
- Information Technology, Internet, E-Commerce
- Seed, Angel, Funding Round
- India, United States, Kenya
Portfolio highlights
- Futwork — With Futwork, learn for free and get a telecaller job. Find Work from Home jobs in India. Flexi hours & work suitable for freshers and women. Earn from home now!
- GetWork — Looking to hire top talent for your organization? GetWork is the platform for you! With a candidate pool of 1.9M+ job seekers, you can easily post your job and find the perfect candidate for your needs. Sign up today and start hiring with GetWork.
- KarmaLifeAI — KarmaLifeAI is an AI-powered digital solution for the financial well being of blue-collar gig workers and micro-business. The company allows the user to pay directly for key expenditures and smoothen their consumption patterns. It offers real-time access to credit for gig workers, based on their payroll account, through partnerships with thedigital platforms they work for. It operates an interest-free subscription model in which the platform or the gig worker can pay a flat fee and access credit equalling up to one-third of their monthly income. The company analyzes alternative data points and payment behavior over time to unlock higher credit lines for the workers.
I enjoy spending time looking at issues another way. I live a very quiet life that allows me to spend a lot of time building.
Show more
Investment focus
- Music, Publishing, Music Label
- Seed
- Nigeria
Portfolio highlights
- InterSpace Entertainment — InterSpace Entertainment is a Music Publishing & Entertainment Agency, headquartered in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Founded in 2021, the group has expanded at a steady rate and currently houses a Record label, Music Publishing / Distribution service and a creative management Agency for Artists, Brands and Enterprises.
Venture Capital firm
Show more
Investment focus
- Software, Financial Services, E-Commerce
- Pre-Seed, Seed, Angel
- United States, Nigeria, Kenya
Portfolio highlights
- Bemi — Bemi is an automatic audit trail for Postgres that tracks data changes reliably without the engineering complexity and costly infrastructure: Bemi Captures and stores data changes with 100% reliability and accuracy.
- Anchor — Anchor is building the infrastructure needed for businesses to build, launch, and scale banking and payment solutions.
- Blossom.team — Powered by AI, Blossom's science-backed professional coaching brings together experienced coaches & ML to show actual growth on key topics: productivity, communications, leadership, stress management, career development, interpersonal skills, and more. Subscribe and see why it's the successful professional's secret superpower!
Rajesh is the co-founder and CEO of InnerChef and Super Angels.
He holds a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from Delhi University, and a master's degree in management from Mumbai University.
He has also done a fellowship in 'Globalisation and Leadership' from the London School of Economics and Social Sciences.
Show more
Investment focus
- E-Commerce, Software, Internet
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- India, Singapore, United States
Portfolio highlights
- Sustainiam — Digital Carbon Registration Platform and Carbon Exchange for compliance and voluntary markets plugged in with Enterprise SaaS API for Emission calculations and reporting.
- Fairdeal Market — Seamlessly Sell Your Products Direct to Offline Retailers. Get Access To The Right Retailers Now.
- hypergro — Hypergro provides the power of user-generated content, craft impactful UGC video ads designed to attract, engage, and convert.These video advertising act as a distinctive, tailored connection between the brand and potential clients, which boosts consumer traffic, app downloads, and revenue for your company.
Tom is currently a commercial executive at Clicks2customers.com, a global Search Engine Marketing company. His background is in (bio-) engineering but he has been involved in online companies for the past 10 years. Besides working at Clicks2customers, Tom is a part time lecturer at TSIBA (http://www.tsiba.org.za/) a South AfricanNGO providing tertiary education to economically disadvantaged children. He is also an angel investor in a number is technology startups and is an active member of the Silicon Cape initiative (www.siliconcape.com)
Show more
Investment focus
- Apps, Events, Printing
- Angel
- South Africa
Portfolio highlights
- Personera — Personera is a technology company focused on the development of Facebook applications and personalized products. Personera's unique platform allows brands to offer their communities a variety of branded print products or digital downloads, easily ordered directly from the brand's Facebook fan page and fully personalized with their socialnetwork content. Personera's platform is white-labeled and completely customizable for any unique brand identity. Products include calendars, photobooks, cards, and posters, and are available in professional print versions or digital downloads. All of their products include shared content between the brand and the individual consumer, creating a one of a kind keepsake or merchandise piece for every customer. Implementing Personera on websites or Facebook fan pages (or both) is easy. All it requires is installation of an app by adding a new tab to a fan page or embedding a line of code onto a website. Personera handles payments, printing and delivery via their global network.Personera's business model works on a per-sale revenue share basis, so there are zero setup fees for clients. They have a global network of commercial print partners that manage physical production and delivery of the products, ensuring high quality, fast and reliable service worldwide. Personera makes it easy for brands to monetize their Facebook page while engaging their fans with personalized product offerings. The Personera personalized products platform has been used by a variety of brands including leading magazines, musicians, celebrities and consumer focused companies.
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.
Show more
Investment focus
- Apps, Software, Internet
- Pre-Seed, Seed, Funding Round
- Morocco, France, Switzerland
Portfolio highlights
- 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.
- Strapack Morocco — Strapack Morocco offers packaging and industrial packaging solutions. It provides an extensive range of machinery, materials, and consumables to ensure efficiency in packaging activities.
Orbit Startups helps companies scaling breakthrough technologies across emerging and frontier markets to the regions with the most aggressive growth.
Show more
Investment focus
- E-Commerce, Information Technology, Software
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Convertible Note
- India, Singapore, Pakistan
Portfolio highlights
- TAPPI — TAPPI is the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging, and converting industries and publisher of Paper360º.
- Braingaze — Braingaze solves major challenges around cognitive disorders of the brain. We use a patented neuro-biomarker based on small involuntary eye movements. These are triggered by functional games, the resulting signal is analysed using algorithms trained by Deep Learning based on actual real patient / control cases. We adress pre-symptomatic stagesof Alzheimer's disease and the most common child cognitive disorder ADHD. Our tools are on the market and covered by a CE Mark as a medical device. Our pipeline includes detection / diagnostic tools as well as digital therapy solutions that have shown to reduce symtoms by over 50%.
- Tappi — Convert one-time customers into loyal ones by getting discovered, growing leads and building your business reputation.
Doctor turned Entrepreneur, Investor, Speaker & Philanthropist.
Show more
Investment focus
- Software, Information Technology, SaaS
- Seed, Pre-Seed, Funding Round
- India, United States, Kenya
Portfolio highlights
- BiteSpeed — Drive 10% of your Shopify store's revenue from WhatsApp & FB Messenger. Recover abandoned carts, send promotional & shipping messages. Trusted by 1500+ brands!
- SaveSage Club — SaveSage Club provides a centralized, AI-powered solution to simplify management and aims to empower users by addressing the lack of awareness about reward optimization.
- First Coffee — First Coffee a specialty coffee brand, combines design, culture and a new customer experience, with premium coffee
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.
Show more
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
Michael is the San Diego based Senior VP Business Development for Cognician, a self coaching and behavior change platform based in San Francisco. He is also a shareholder and director.
Michael also has array of investments in and advisory roles with a number of other start ups, including Gyft, Yola, ChessCube and Skyrove.
Show more
Investment focus
- Apps, Publishing, Software
- Angel, Seed, Funding Round
- United States, South Africa
Portfolio highlights
- Personera — Personera is a technology company focused on the development of Facebook applications and personalized products. Personera's unique platform allows brands to offer their communities a variety of branded print products or digital downloads, easily ordered directly from the brand's Facebook fan page and fully personalized with their socialnetwork content. Personera's platform is white-labeled and completely customizable for any unique brand identity. Products include calendars, photobooks, cards, and posters, and are available in professional print versions or digital downloads. All of their products include shared content between the brand and the individual consumer, creating a one of a kind keepsake or merchandise piece for every customer. Implementing Personera on websites or Facebook fan pages (or both) is easy. All it requires is installation of an app by adding a new tab to a fan page or embedding a line of code onto a website. Personera handles payments, printing and delivery via their global network.Personera's business model works on a per-sale revenue share basis, so there are zero setup fees for clients. They have a global network of commercial print partners that manage physical production and delivery of the products, ensuring high quality, fast and reliable service worldwide. Personera makes it easy for brands to monetize their Facebook page while engaging their fans with personalized product offerings. The Personera personalized products platform has been used by a variety of brands including leading magazines, musicians, celebrities and consumer focused companies.
- Swiftly — Harness your public transit data with Swiftly's urban mobility solutions to make your city's mass transportation move more efficiently.
- Appstores.com — Appstores is making it easier for consumers to find apps by giving small and large niche publishers and API/platform companies the tools to showcase apps most relevant to their users.
AR/VR Africa is a community of content creators, enthusiasts, creatives, developers, and technologists who are keen on making a difference with Augmented and Virtual Reality. We are changing the narrative here in Africa, as creators and not just consumers of technology.
Show more
Investment focus
- Internet, Marketing, Publishing
- Seed, Pre-Seed
- Kenya, Nigeria
Vinny Lingham is Co-Founder & CEO at Civic. He was the founder and CEO of Gyft, a mobile gift card app that allows customers to buy, store, send and redeem gift cards conveniently from their mobile device.
He is also the founder of Yola.com, a web development and hosting company that enables users without prior programming knowledge to developwebsites.
Vinny is the recipient of numerous awards, including Top Young ICT Entrepreneur in Africa (2006) and was also a finalist for Men’s Health Best Man (2009) and ICT Personality of the Year in South Africa (2008). He also previously founded Clicks2Customers, which also won the Top Technology Company award in South Africa in 2006.
He has previously served on marketing advisory boards for Nasdaq listed Valueclick and Yahoo, was also selected as an Endeavor “High Impact Entrepreneur” in 2006. Vinny studied a B.Com (Information Systems) at the University of Cape Town.
Show more
Investment focus
- Blockchain, Internet, Cryptocurrency
- Seed, Funding Round, Angel
- United States, South Africa, United Kingdom
Portfolio highlights
- Glif — Interoperable tools for the Filecoin network
- Afterparty — Afterparty is a technology company behind the new Web3 platform enabling creators to directly monetize and manage NFT collector relationships
- Collectibles.com — Collectibles is the Home of Collectors: Cards, Comics, Coins, Stamps and more. Connect with Likeminds, Trade and Showoff your Collection for free
Investors by industry
Consumer
Hardware
Climate
Proptech
Gaming
Google
Marketplace
Biotech
Impact
Community
Energy
FinTech
Artificial intelligence
Health Care
EdTech
Sustainability
Venture Capital
Real Estate
Retail
Clean Energy
Food and Beverage
B2B
Video Games
Web3
Photography
Education
Big Data
Finance
Financial Services
Payments
Beauty
Publishing
Infrastructure
Organic Food
Social Network
Social Media
Digital Media
Art
Medical
Android
Franchise
Mobile
Local
Music
Legal
Enterprise Software
eSports
Construction
Sports
Internet
Wellness
Email
Manufacturing
Recruiting
Mobile Advertising
Travel
Hospitality
Cannabis
Fitness
Biotechnology
Platforms
Wine And Spirits
Automotive
Social
Medical Device
Crowdfunding
CleanTech
Transportation
Mobile Apps
InsurTech
Enterprise
LGBT
Fashion
Oil and Gas
Life Science
Film
Theatre
Non Profit
Renewable Energy
SaaS
Sporting Goods
Restaurants
Social Impact
Software
Celebrity
Cryptocurrency
Agriculture (agtech)
Media (entertainment)
Facebook
Blockchain
Investors by country
Germany
United Kingdom
Canada
United States
New Zealand
South Korea
Ireland
India
Australia
Africa
Sri Lanka
Europe
Middle East
China
Qatar
Vietnam
Armenia
Oceania
Brazil
Indonesia
Asia
South Africa
Spain
Saudi Arabia
Japan
Singapore
LATAM
Estonia
Bermuda
Gibraltar
Belarus
Croatia
Ethiopia
Belize
Egypt
Georgia
France
Denmark
Costa Rica
Greece
Czech Republic
Hungary
Liechtenstein
Mauritius
Lithuania
Italy
Philippines
Mali
Liberia
Jersey
Malaysia
Israel
Malta
Lebanon
Norway
Myanmar
Morocco
Peru
Nicaragua
Ecuador
Mexico
Panama
Faroe Islands
Kuwait
Chile
Senegal
Uruguay
Puerto Rico
Sweden
El Salvador
Sierra Leone
Uganda
Slovenia
Ghana
Taiwan
Togo
Seychelles
Zambia
Venezuela
Tajikistan
Zimbabwe
Russian Federation
Turkey
Tunisia
Finland
Uzbekistan
Thailand
Rwanda
San Marino
Serbia
Tanzania
Bahrain
Ukraine
Algeria
Portugal
Poland
Hong Kong
Dominican Republic
Belgium
Bahamas
Iceland
Namibia
Nigeria
Azerbaijan
Iraq
Bulgaria
United Arab Emirates
Jamaica
Honduras
Barbados
Luxembourg
Isle of Man
Bolivia
Albania
Pakistan
Jordan
Bangladesh
Argentina
Romania
Grenada
Kenya
Kazakhstan
Cayman Islands
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cyprus
Latvia
Oman
Austria
Switzerland
Guatemala
Colombia
Marshall Islands
Investors in Africa by industry
Venture Capital
Real Estate
Beauty
Retail
Web3
B2B
Renewable Energy
Infrastructure
Cryptocurrency
Payments
Finance
Food and Beverage
Medical
Email
Medical Device
Internet
Social Media
Crowdfunding
Manufacturing
Digital Media
Blockchain
Social Network
Non Profit
Social Impact
Construction
Software
Enterprise Software
Sports
Fitness
Travel
Automotive
Hospitality
CleanTech
InsurTech
Recruiting
FinTech
Biotechnology
Enterprise
Consumer
Health Care
Biotech
EdTech
Climate
Mobile
Impact
Energy
Sustainability
Proptech
SaaS
Marketplace
Video Games
Artificial intelligence
Hardware
Community
Gaming
Transportation
Fashion
Publishing
Big Data
Education
Clean Energy
Oil and Gas
Wellness
Facebook
Platforms
Organic Food
Financial Services
Music
Restaurants
Agriculture (agtech)
Social
Media (entertainment)
Mobile Apps