AFC Bets $100 Million on Africa Tech Fund Investment to Rescue VC
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is making its boldest move yet into the continent’s tech ecosystem, launching a $100 million AFC Africa tech fund investment programme aimed squarely at reversing a dangerous slide in venture capital funding.
The development bank, which manages over $19 billion in total assets, has already committed $40 million of that fund $25 million to Lightrock Africa, the London-based impact investment firm with portfolio companies including Moniepoint and M-Kopa, and $15 million to Future Africa, the early-stage VC firm founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji. Another $60 million remains queued for additional fund managers currently under review.
A Lifeline at a Critical Moment
The timing of this AFC Africa tech fund investment could not be more urgent. According to the African Private Capital Association, Africa-focused fund managers raised just $107 million across six final closes in 2025 an 87% year-on-year collapse. European venture investors, once the dominant source of capital for African funds, shrank from 70% of commitments between 2022 and 2024 to just 21% in 2025. The vacuum is real, and it is deepening.
AFC, historically a heavyweight in infrastructure oil and gas, ports, telecoms, and subsea cables is now stepping well beyond its traditional remit. Its $100 million fund-of-funds programme is a structural departure designed to cover the African venture stack from pre-seed all the way to growth stage.
But AFC is not stopping there. According to Begna Gebreyes, AFC’s head of heavy industries, telecoms, and technology, the bank is using this commitment as a foundation to attract $300 to $500 million in co-investment from US and European foundations, endowments, and pension funds institutional players who have long sought African exposure but lacked the on-the-ground infrastructure to commit confidently. AFC intends to be that anchor. If it succeeds, $100 million becomes the catalyst for a capital pool several times its size, arriving at precisely the moment African tech needs it most.
