Madica invests up to $1m in five African pre

Madica, an Africa-focused pre-seed investment programme, has committed up to $1 million across five startups in Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt as it expands its backing of early-stage businesses beyond the continent’s established venture capital hubs.

Each startup will receive up to $200,000 and enter Madica’s 18-month investment programme, which combines patient capital with hands-on mentorship, executive coaching, founder immersion trips and access to a global investor network.

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The latest investments mark Madica’s first entry into Algeria and Cameroon, highlighting the growing push to direct institutional venture capital towards founders operating in markets that have historically received limited early-stage funding.

The five startups operate across human resources technology, financial services, semiconductors and the circular economy.

Talenteo, based in Algeria, is developing an all-in-one human resources management platform for medium-sized and mid-market businesses across Francophone Africa.

Paysika, from Cameroon, operates a digital neobank offering virtual and physical payment cards for consumers and small and medium-sized businesses across Central Africa, with a focus on enabling international transactions.

Nigeria’s ChipMango is building a semiconductor ecosystem through chip design services, engineering education and locally developed Edge AI products.

The two Egyptian startups are focused on the circular economy. Delta Oil connects fragmented used cooking oil collection networks with international buyers, while Bekia operates a digital platform that pays households and businesses for recyclable waste and supplies the materials to industrial buyers.

The investments give Madica exposure to four African markets and a broader mix of sectors at the earliest stage of company building, rather than concentrating its capital in the continent’s better-funded startup ecosystems.

Emmanuel Adegboye, head of Madica, said the programme believes exceptional founders can emerge across Africa, even though access to early-stage capital remains concentrated in a small number of ecosystems.

“By making our first investments in Algeria and Cameroon, we’re continuing to prove that world-class businesses can emerge from markets that have historically been overlooked by venture capital,” Adegboye said.

Madica was launched in 2022 to address structural gaps in Africa’s early-stage funding market. The sector-agnostic programme is affiliated with Flourish Ventures, an early-stage fintech investment firm.

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The programme targets startups with a minimum viable product and some paying customers, full-time founders and little or no institutional funding. Eligible companies must also be headquartered in Africa.

The latest investments come as early-stage African founders continue to face challenges accessing institutional capital, particularly outside the continent’s largest technology ecosystems.

For Madica, the expansion into Algeria and Cameroon signals a strategy of identifying investable companies in less-served markets while providing capital alongside longer-term company-building support. The programme will continue seeking investment opportunities across Africa as it expands its pan-African reach.

Royal Ibeh is a senior journalist with years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s technology and health sectors. She currently covers the Technology and Health beats for BusinessDay newspaper, where she writes in-depth stories on digital innovation, telecom infrastructure, healthcare systems, and public health policies.

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