# Top 50 Transportation Angel Investors in Africa in June 2026

## Justin Mateen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 5
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Health Care

Justin Mateen is the Cofounder and former CMO of Tinder, the world's largest dating platform. In 2021, and 2022 Business Insider ranked Mateen as the best early stage investor in the US, placing him at the number 1 spot on the top 100 list of US Seed Investors both years. In 2020, Forbes included Mateen on their list of the decade's top10 tech entrepreneurs. Fast Company has listed him as one of the most creative people in business.Founded in 2012, Tinder is the highest grossing app on Apple's app store since 2017 and was valued at over $40 Billion dollars in 2021.

## Cem Garih
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 4
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Internet

Investor

## Yves Guillemot
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Logistics, E-Commerce Platforms, Location Based Services

Fresh out of business school, Yves Guillemot and his brothers embarked on an adventure in the nascent video game industry and founded Ubisoft in 1986. Early on, Yves understood that creating original content in-house and growing proprietary brands would be key to Ubisoft’s success. His vision to use technological breakthroughs as an opportunity toinnovate, create brands and win over market share proved hugely successful over the years. With a strong focus on organic growth and efficiency, he has developed an organization recognized for its unrivalled collaborative mindset and for being highly competitive, with over two thirds of production based in cost-competitive countries.Yves has led Ubisoft’s evolution over the years with player engagement at the core of the company’s development. Ubisoft is one of the pioneers and a leader of the open world genre, which has become one of the industry’s most popular gaming segments. Ubisoft also develops successful multiplayer games and delivers state-of-the-art live operations that engage fans in the long term.Under Yves’ tenure, Ubisoft launched three of the world’s four best new videogame brands of all time ─ with Tom Clancy’s The Division leading the way ─ a remarkable achievement. The company’s unique capacity as a creator of blockbuster entertainment franchises has created massive value for Ubisoft’s shareholders.As the owner of its brands, Ubisoft today is in a unique position to broaden its franchises’ reach to a much wider audience through movies, TV shows, theme parks and consumer products. Under Yves’ direction, the company is taking an innovative approach by keeping creative control over its major projects ─ a first in the industry ─ to ensure consistency with the franchises’ DNA.Over the past 30 years Yves has led Ubisoft in its evolution from a local video game distributor, to a global entertainment leader. Yves has grown alongside the industry and has a deep understanding of what it takes to survive in a fast-moving, high-risk environment, at the crossroads of creation and technological disruption. His strong business acumen is sought out by multinationals such as Lagardère and Rémy Cointreau whose boards he sits on. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2009, and Glassdoor elected him one of the Top 3 most beloved CEOs in France in 2015.

## Tim Draper
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, FinTech, Financial Services

Tim Draper is the Founding Partner of Draper Associates. He attended Harvard Business School.

## Andrew Vigneault
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, FinTech, Financial Services

Andrew is a successful entrepreneur as well as investor and advisor to more than 100 early-stage startups across enterprise SaaS and fintech. He founded and served as CEO of ClearGraph (acquired by Tableau (NYSE: DATA)). Andrew is a top .5% contributor to Stanford StartX (2k+ entrepreneurs). Earlier in his career, he served multiple roles inventure and investment banking, and holds a B.S. in Finance, summa cum laude, from the Gabelli School of Business.

## Stephen Pagliuca
- Type: Angel
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Series B, Series A, Series C
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, Sports

Stephen G. Pagliuca has served as a director from July 1990 (except for a six month hiatus beginning in late 2009 when he entered the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race).Mr. Pagliuca is a Managing Director of Bain Capital Partners, LLC and is also a Managing Partner and an owner of the Boston Celtics basketball franchise. Mr. Pagliuca joined Bain& Company in 1982, and founded the Information Partners private equity fund for Bain Capital in 1989.Prior to joining Bain, Mr. Pagliuca worked as a senior accountant and international tax specialist for Peat Marwick Mitchell & Company in the Netherlands.

## Justin Kan
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Financial Services, SaaS

Justin Kan is the Co-Founder of Stash. He previously worked at Atrium as a CEO. Justin Kan attended Yale University.

## Manuela Raith
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Communities, Point of Sale, Social Impact

Manuela Raith

## Daniel Curran
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Software, Internet

Daniel Curran is the Founder and CEO at CustEx.com.

## Vinny Lingham
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Blockchain, Internet, Software

Vinny Lingham is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rumi.ai(Waitroom). He previously worked at YPO as a Member. Vinny Lingham attended Harvard Business School Executive Education.

## Kevin Ambrosini
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series B, Series A
- Focus: E-Commerce, Logistics, Fashion

Kevin Ambrosini is Chief Strategy Officer at Payoneer, a publicly-traded fintech with $80bn volume (+21% year-over-year), $1bn revenue and 28% adj EBITDA margins [2024].  Previously, Kevin was the Head of Global Strategy & GM, North America at Alibaba.com, where he helped take the business from revenue of $800m and 4% annual growth to $3bn and30% annual growth over 4 years. Kevin join Alibaba through its acquisition of OpenSky, where he was Co-founder and CFO. Kevin graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.

## Sam Altman
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Internet

Sam Altman is the CEO and co-founder of OpenAI. He is a Partner of Apollo Projects. Altman was the president of Y Combinator. Sam attended Stanford University.

## Enagwolor Johnny
- Type: Angel
- Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Delivery, Logistics, Mobile Apps

Enagwolor Johnny is the co founder and president at Treepz. He attended University of Benin.

## George Godula
- Type: Angel
- Location: Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Health Care, Information Technology, Mobile

Cross-border angel / early stage investor with portfolio of 40+ startup companies and as of currently 4 exits, 4 unicorns & counting.George invests in companies helping people lead a longer, healthier and happier life - keywords sustainability, ESG, impact investing. In addition to investing he likes to be hands-on in hisportfoliocompanies, either helping China / SEA based teams to internationalize or global teams to break into China / SEA or support them in outsourcing, sourcing and manufacturing. Typically angel, seed and occasional Series A stage investments.
Industry focus and selected startups in his portfolio: - E-Commerce e.g. Web2Asia, Grana, Mercato - SaaS e.g. Jimdo, Blush, Anduin Transactions - Marketplaces / crowdfunding Republic.co - Education / Training e.g. Vantage Point, Dexter, - IoT e.g. Mila, Cafe-X, Lyte charging, The Light Phone, Density.io - Fitness e.g. FitXR, Trainersvault, Overhand Fitness, Salut, Guavapass (exit via sale to ClassPass) - Health / Nutrition e.g. NutriSense, Blue Mesa Health (exit via sale to Virgin), Compass Therapeutics (exit via IPO) - Insurtech e.g. The Care Voice - Medtech / Biotech e.g. Life Biosciences, Sequencing.com, MycoWorks - Sustainability / Infrastructure e.g. Blokable, U.S. Bitcoin Corp, Hardt Hyperloop - Deep tech / frontier tech e.g. Rain Neuromorphics, ZaiNar, Massive, Protocol Labs (Filecoin) - On-demand / sharing economy e.g. Yassir, Truck it in, misterbnb, Delivery Hero Austria & China (exit via sale / IPO)

## Reid Hoffman
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Series B, Seed
- Focus: Software, Social Media, Internet

Reid Hoffman is the Co-Founder of Manas AI and a member of the Sanmai Board of Directors. Reid previously worked at Coda as a Board Member. Reid Hoffman attended the University of Oxford, where he earned his M.St. in Philosophy.

## Bhavik Bajaj
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Angel
- Focus: Information Technology, Software, FinTech

Bhavik Bajaj

## Aaron Fu
- Type: Angel
- Location: Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, Software, Apps

Aaron has 10+ years of global experience building, scaling and investing in technology products in corporate and startup environments. He has co-founded both B2B & B2C businesses, in Africa - he has led seed stage equity investments in 20+ startups (totaling $2m+), driven the exit of 3 startups in Africa, he also sits on the board of ofstartups ranging from AgriTech to Transport and has worked with 100s through partners like Visa, MTN, Airbus, Société Générale and the World Bank.Prior to the Catalyst Fund, he was the Managing Director of MEST, Africa’s Largest Pre-Seed Incubator, and Managing Partner for Africa at Nest.vc, a Hong Kong based fund, which he joined after a career in financial services.

## Patrick Pichette
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Software

Patrick Pichette is based out of London, England, and is the Partner of Inovia Capital and also Board Member of Cohere. Patrick Pichette previously worked at Twitter as a
Board of Directors. Patrick Pichette attended the University of Oxford.

## Ryan Petersen
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, FinTech

Ryan Petersen is the CEO and Founder of Flexport. Prior to starting Flexport to fix the user experience in global trade, Ryan was co-founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, a data-as-a-service business for global shipping. He holds a degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia University.

## Michael Novogratz
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: FinTech, Blockchain, Biotechnology

Michael E. Novogratz is based out of New York, New York, and is the Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. Michael previously served at Partner and President of Fortress Investment Group. Michael E. Novogratz attended Princeton University.

## Ndubuisi Ekekwe
- Type: Angel
- Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: FinTech, AgTech, Internet

Ndubuisi Ekekwe is the Co-Founder of Vetifly.

## Olugbenga Agboola
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
- Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Finance

Olugbenga Agboola is based out of San Francisco, California, and is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave. Olugbenga previously worked at Access Bank as a Head of Digital Factory and Innovation. Olugbenga Agboola attended EC-Council University. Olugbenga Agboola has been a Certified Ethical Hacker and a Security Analyst.

## Echukwudi Daniel
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Drones, Energy, Delivery

Echukwudi Daniel

## Chibuzo Ujam
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Drones, Energy, Delivery

Chibuzo Ujam

## Samson Larsson
- Type: Angel
- Location: Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Delivery, Logistics, E-Commerce

Samson Larsson is the founder of Ayazona, a high-impact organisation in Kenya, enabling low-income households to access food and household essentials. Larsson is also the founder of Gretol, a startup connecting SMEs in EMEA to the blockchain infrastructure based on Hyperledger technology.

## Cleo Sham
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Apps, mHealth, Wellness

Cleo is Spotahome’s Chief Operating Officer. She oversees Spotahome’s global performance, delivery and expansion, and leads operations and customer experience, which covers Spotahome’s unique selling proposition -the Homecheckers, property listings, landlord management, regional development and the tenant experience. 
Prior to Spotahome, Cleo wasHead of Uber’s Regional Operations EMEA, where she was responsible for ridesharing operations in 45 countries after moving from Director of Operations, China. There she helped to turn Guangzhou, home to 12 million people in southern China, into Uber’s busiest city globally in little more than two years. Prior to Uber, she had worked at Mckinsey, Merrill Lynch and had launched a number of her own startups. Cleo is the first woman to join the Spotahome C-Suite. Cleo is a strong ambassador for women in business and LGBTQ+ inclusivity, recognised by her participation in leading events Women in Technology, EUROUT and Feminin Pluriel. She holds an MBA from Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution, where she was a Joseph Wharton Fellow, and graduated from Rice University with a triple-major in Economics, Managerial Studies and Sports Management. In her spare time, Cleo has a passion for sports, especially surfing and tennis. She speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin, German and Spanish.

## Abdo Achkar
- Type: Angel
- Location: Stanford, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Marketplace, Software

Abdo Achkar is the Founder & CEO at Sowlutions.

## Sudeep Ramnani
- Type: Angel
- Location: Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Credit, FinTech, InsurTech

Sudeep Ramnani is a Technology Entrepreneur and Investor

## Victoria van Lennep
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Finance

Victoria van Lennep - Co-Founder @ Lendable

## Ahmed Mhiri
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, E-Commerce

A visionary in mobility and a scale-up builder, Ahmed Mhiri combines deep tech expertise with bold entrepreneurial spirit.
An engineer specialized in computer science and cybersecurity, he began his career leading major digital transformation and security projects across France and abroad.
In 2012, he founded TravelCar, a pioneering car-sharingplatform for travelers. In just a few years, the company raised $25M, expanded to over 60 countries, and caught the attention of Stellantis, which acquired it in 2019 to build the foundation of Free2move.
As CEO of Free2move, Ahmed has transformed the company into a global leader in flexible mobility, serving both individuals and businesses.
Today, he is redefining the future of mobility: more autonomous, more sustainable, and more seamless — to meet the challenges of a world in motion.

## Lawko Juste Davy DALA
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Logistics, E-Commerce, Incubators

Lawko Juste Davy DALA

## Shola Akinlade
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Education, Financial Services

Shola Akinlade is the Co-founder and CEO at Paystack.

## Wes Schwalje
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: FinTech, Information Technology, Financial Services

Operator at nexus of policy, tech, and dev, investor, advised 8 unicorns on MENAP entry/scale-up, support Big Tech / startups to get along with govt

## Oskar Hartmann
- Type: Angel
- Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: E-Commerce, Internet, Automotive

Oskar Hartmann currently works as an Angel Investor for YAP.  He previously worked at Flaschenpost SE as an Investor. Oskar Hartmann attended WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management.

## Bas Hochstenbach
- Type: Angel
- Location: Cape Town, NA - South Africa, South Africa
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel, Seed
- Focus: B2C, Shopping, Software

Bas Hochstenbach is the Co-Founder of Conservation Club. He attended Leiden University.

## Hiroaki Ohta
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Convertible Note
- Focus: Information Technology, Quantum Computing, Energy

Hiroaki Ohta is the Chief Technology Officer, Co-Founder and Board Member of Blue Laser Fusion. He previously worked at ACSL Ltd. as a Representative Director, President, CEO, Chiarman, Board Member. Hiroaki Ohta attended Kyoto University.

## Juan Pablo Ortega
- Type: Angel
- Location: Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Restaurants, Financial Services, Banking

Juan Pablo Ortega is the Co-founder of Rappi. He previously worked as a Board Member at Viva Air. He attended Cornell University.

## Hedi Hachouch
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Taxi Service

Hedi Hachouch

## Welid Mnif
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Taxi Service

Welid Mnif

## Guillaume Glaunès
- Type: Angel
- Location: Hong Kong, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Apps

Angel Investor

## Tidjane Deme
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Series B, Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Mobile Payments

Tidjane DEME is a General Partner at Partech, co-leading Partech Africa Fund, Partech’s multi-stages tech fund exclusively dedicated to Africa digital markets. He joined in May 2016.Prior to joining Partech, Tidjane has worked for 15+ years in the tech industry in Africa, as an entrepreneur, a consultant as well as a senior business manager. Heworked for 7 years as a senior manager at Google, leading activities in Africa. He started the Google Francophone Africa office in Dakar in 2009, led ecosystem efforts to support developer communities and tech startups across 15+ countries, led Google’s Africa Content Strategy, launching and growing YouTube in 6 markets. He also led business development for Google’s Infrastructure investments in Africa. Prior to Google, Tidjane was a tech entrepreneur who founded and led CommonSys, a consulting and integration company deploying e-gov platforms and enterprise solutions in west Africa. He also cofounded 2 startups, an e-reputation platform in Europe and a SaaS platform for African SMEs. Tidjane started his career working with Cap Gemini in France before joining Cosine Communications, a Silicon Valley startup building network virtualization technology for carriers.Tidjane grew up in Senegal until age 18, then moved to France to attend Ecole Polytechnique (Msc Physics), did an exchange program at Imperial College London, and attended Ensta-Paritech (Telecom and IT Engineering).

## Karthik Ramakrishnan
- Type: Angel
- Location: Seattle, Washington, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: EdTech, Banking, FinTech

Karthik Ramakrishnan is an Engineering Executive @ Amazon Alexa.

## Tomasz Gasienica-Szostak
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Logistics, Last Mile Transportation

Tomasz Gasienica-Szostak

## Kola Aina
- Type: Angel
- Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Internet

Kola Aina is an entrepreneur, technology operator and investor with vast experience working in Africa’s largest economic market. His prior entrepreneurial experience spans several sectors including venture capital, technology, media, agriculture, infrastructure, publishing and real estate. As an angel investor and while leading the early stageAfrican VC firm Ventures Platform. Venture Platform is a leading early stage African VC fund that provides founder friendly capital and support to early stage companies in a framework that is buoyed by corporate governance and hands-on support. Kola has lead investment in about 28 companies including Payments company; Paystack, Connectivity company; Tizeti, Healthcare company; MDaaS and the Agric-tech company; Thrive Agric.Kola, founded the enterprise technology company Emerging Platforms Limited, 9 years ago, quickly growing it to become one of the leading technology service delivery companies and leaders in the e-learning space in West Africa providing services to over 100,000 students. Emerging Platforms Limited is a software and technology firm that specializes in developing innovative technology solutions in education, national security and enterprise sectors.Prior to focusing on full time entrepreneurship, Kola worked in corporate finance, administration, corporate turn-around and strategy. He led strategy and finance for one of
the largest publishing companies in Nigeria up till 2009. Before that he worked in corporate finance proving financial analysis at Fifth Third Bank in the USA.Kola is a leader in the African startup and investing ecosystem, a Ted speaker and volunteers his time advising founders, speaking at events and serves on the Presidential Committee for Job Creation and Youth Employment as well as the Private Sector Advisory Group to the Presidency on Creativity and Technology.  Kola studied Electrical Engineering and then secured a Master in Business Administration degree with a specialization in Finance from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He has received further education from Berkley University, Harvard University and the Lagos Business School.

## Walid Aradi
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: Information Technology, Internet, Financial Services

Entrepreneur, investor. Advising global tech companies navigate through MENA+ regulatory environments, market entry and scaling

## Mandeep Singh
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, Information Technology

Mandeep Singh is an Angel investor at multiple firms. He previously was the founding CEO at Trouva. Mandeep Singh studied Physics at the University of Cambridge.

## Babatunde Soyoye
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Grant, Series A
- Focus: Apps, Sales, Fitness

Mr. Soyoye holds a Master of Business Administration degree and Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering.

He is a co-founder of Helios Investment Partners and a Board member of Africatel Holdings B.V.

## Leonard Stiegeler
- Type: Angel
- Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Credit

Leonard Stiegeler is the Founder of Pulse, the leading innovative media company in Africa. He is backing & investing in media-/art-/technology- & -enabled ventures/assets. Some of his interests include Business Insider Africa, Art News Africa and Digital News Africa. Prior, he was the General Manager of Swiss Ringier AfricaAG since 2016 – responsible for buiding up the group's business on the continent. Ringier is today active in 8 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and through its ROAM-holding leads brands such as Jobberman, Cheki, Private Property, BuyRentKenya, Pigiame, ZoomTanzania, and many more. Prior to his work with Ringier since 2013, Leo helped to establish Rocket Internet and other German investors in Africa. Leo is originally from Germany and has been based in different African countries since 2011.

## Hedi Ketari
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Taxi Service

Hedi Ketari

## Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence

Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen grew up across Africa, from Angola and Guinea-Bissau to Tanzania and Libya, after his family fled the Angolan Civil War as refugees. Those early experiences instilled in him a belief that education, technology, and social innovation can transform lives and continue to anchor his career and philanthropic activities to this day.Today, Lars is a General Partner at Owl Ventures ($2.2 billion AUM), the world’s leading venture capital firm focused exclusively on education technology. He leads Owl’s expansion across Europe, Africa, and global markets, backing founders who harness AI and breakthrough technologies to make learning more accessible and impactful.Before joining Owl, Lars co-founded 2xN, an early-stage fund at the frontier of deeptech and quantum innovation, with standout investments including Quantinuum (valued above $10 billion), Oxford Ionics (acquired by IonQ in a $1 billion deal), QSimulate, and Sparrow Quantum. Prior to that, he was a General Partner at Balderton Capital in London during which time the firm led the Seed and Series A rounds in Revolut. His investments also span education (Labster, uLesson, StudySmarter, Kukua), mobility (Yassir, Voi, Monta, NoTraffic), and mobile and frontier tech (Hiya, Monarch Money, Rahko, Pocket, Colossal, Celus, Octant Bio, Vivino, OpenSea, Blue Bottle Coffee).Lars previously spent a decade in Silicon Valley, shaping some of tech’s most iconic growth stories. At Uber, he joined when it operated in fewer than 20 cities and, as Vice President, forged global alliances with Verizon and América Móvil that fueled its international expansion. Before Uber, as Head of Mobile at Dropbox, he was among the first 25 employees and helped the company reach its first 100 million users through partnerships with Samsung and other OEMs.Despite his career in technology and venture capital, Africa has never left Lars’s journey. After his father’s passing, he returned to Angola to trace his family’s history, discovering that his sister had died of malaria as a child. That revelation transformed a personal loss into a mission. A technologist turned humanitarian innovator, Lars filed a patent for genetically modified mosquitoes that light up when carrying malaria and began funding malaria-research projects in Angola through partnerships with global nonprofits. In 2024, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for malaria research, following earlier campaigns such as climbing the Matterhorn and crossing the Sahara by motorbike.A Danish-Portuguese national who served with the Royal Danish Guards, Lars holds an MBA from London Business School, where he was a member of the Board of Governors and Chairman of the Endowment Fund, an MSc from Oxford University (Keble College), and a BSc from King’s College London. Across every chapter, from refugee to technologist to investor, his purpose endures: advancing education, health, and innovation as catalysts for social change.

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