Pan-African venture capital (VC) firm Enza Capital has reached the first close of its third fund, the AI Africa Fund, securing around US$21 million, or 35 per cent of its US$60 million target.
Founded in 2019, the Nairobi-based Enza Capital is a multi-stage VC firm that backs founders and teams using technology to solve large and meaningful problems across Africa. It has backed 49 tech companies across 10 African countries through its first two funds.
Its new fund, the AI Africa Fund, has now reached a first close of US$21 million. Enza is targeting US$60 million, with a hard cap of US$80 million, and expects to secure further commitments before the end of the year. The final close is planned for next year.
The fund will back AI-native and AI-enabled companies tackling major economic and social challenges across the continent, as well as African-founded businesses with the potential to compete globally. It will invest from pre-seed to Series B stage, with initial cheques generally ranging from US$250,000 to US$3 million, and will reserve capital for follow-on investments as portfolio companies grow.
Target sectors include financial services, healthcare, enterprise technology, education, agriculture, climate and emerging infrastructure, with first investments planned for 2027.
“Artificial intelligence is changing the economics of solving problems, and nowhere is that opportunity more compelling than in Africa,” said Mike Mompi, co-founder and managing partner of Enza Capital, who Disrupt Africa profiled in 2021.
“For decades, businesses have struggled to serve large parts of Africa’s population economically. Fragmented markets, limited infrastructure, expensive distribution and shortages of skilled professionals have made many otherwise valuable solutions commercially unviable. AI fundamentally changes that equation. It reduces the cost of building technology, delivering services and reaching customers, opening markets and opportunities that were previously difficult to address. We believe this will create a generation of highly valuable companies that transform African economies.”
Enza made its first realised exit in 2025, when hospital group Netcare acquired a controlling stake in Quro Medical, a South African AI healthcare technology company that enables patients to receive hospital-level care at home through remote monitoring and technology-enabled clinical services.