Eloho Omame, managing director, Endeavor Nigeria, and Odunayo Eweniyi, co-founder and COO, Piggyvest have launched FirstCheck, a female-focused angel fund.
Founded on a mission to advance equity, capital, and leadership for a generation of women in Africa through technology and entrepreneurship, FirstCheck plans to invest up to $25,000 each, “ridiculously”, in women in Africa with bold, entrepreneurial ideas.
It also plans to develop the middle tier of female angel investors, by building a community of Millenials and mid-career women that want to learn about tech and angel investing and put their dollars – small or large – behind ventured-backed technology companies in Africa.
The fund was founded on the premise that women-led early-stage startups do not get the attention they deserve compared to men-led startups.
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Although full-year total venture capital investment globally was $257 billion, the second-highest on record behind 2018’s $300 billion, according to a report published by KPMG International, less than five percent went to female-led companies. The trend did not improve in 2020 due to the global pandemic. In
In Africa, female-led founders also point to decision-making bias and a lack of early conviction by investors. While startup capital into Africa has risen over five times, women did not feature among the most highly-valued, category-defining startups led by African entrepreneurs. Also in 2017, when venture funding into Africa reached its then all-time high of about $570 million in 2017, just $30 million went to companies with a female founder.
In many cases, there is more program offering female entrepreneurs mentorship, training, and incubation than ones willing to sign the check to get their ideas started. Even when pitching identical businesses, men founders are more likely to get funded compared to women founders. This only changes when women entrepreneurs amplify the social impact of their businesses when pitching.
“Supporting female founders should be about economics, not social impact,” said Omame and Eweniyi in a joint statement.
They also noted that the bias extends to female angel investor groups which are perceived as pushing ‘diversity activism’ rather than projecting quality entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, women building high-impact tech companies cannot make headway with social grants. They should play a meaningful role in building Africa’s next generation of companies.
FirstCheck expects to invest up to $25,000 in up to six women in 2021 and helping them to raise a significant pre-seed round within 12 months.
“Our investor community is open to everyone but we will prioritise women that want to invest in tech by putting their dollars – small or large – behind venture-backed startups. FirstCheck will create opportunities for women to invest at more comfortable levels, and support them with learning and educational content to help them get off the ground floor by writing their own first checks,” the statement read.
