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Delta40, an Africa-focused venture builder, has successfully raised $20 million to expand its combined venture studio and early-stage investment fund, a financing round the firm says is the first institutional raise of its kind on the continent to merge hands-on company building with seed capital.
The Nairobi-headquartered organization, which also operates in Lagos, Nigeria, brings together 54 investors from 13 countries, including global development finance institutions, foundations, family offices, high-net-worth individuals and startup founders.
Twenty-five of the backers are entrepreneurs themselves, part of what Delta40 calls a “founders backing founders” network aimed at strengthening practical support for emerging companies.
Delta40’s hybrid model pairs early investment with embedded operational expertise in areas such as product development, fundraising, commercial strategy, finance, legal structuring, growth and exit planning.
The approach is intended to help startups move beyond early traction toward sustainable, scalable businesses, with focused support from ideation through to expansion.
Its target sectors include energy and mobility, agriculture and food systems, and financial technology.
According to the firm, initial investments typically range from $100,000 to $500,000 at the idea-to-seed stage, and there is scope for follow-on funding.
Beyond capital, Delta40’s team works closely with founders on commercial growth and fundraising execution, helping prepare investor materials, financial models and strategy roadmaps while facilitating introductions to future funders.
Lyndsay Holley Handler, Delta40’s founder and CEO, said the model is designed to build and scale solutions that improve lives, grow economies and protect the environment across Africa.
She highlighted that over 75 % of the investors and team members have previously built ventures on the continent, bringing experience and networks that support practical growth and successful exits.
Institutional backers include the Soros Economic Development Fund, FMO, GIZ, Autodesk Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies, Livelihood Impact Fund, Small Foundation, Lemelson Foundation, Factor(E) Ventures and the Skoll Foundation, reflecting a mix of developmental and market-oriented capital.
Delta40 says it has already invested in and supported 16 companies, including five ventures created within its own studio, spanning more than 30 African countries and generating over 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The fresh capital will allow the organization to both deepen its venture studio engagement and broaden the portfolio of startups it backs.
Miro, a forestry and plywood manufacturing enterprise with operations in Sierra Leone and Ghana, has closed a significant funding round spearheaded by Lagata, an investment firm dedicated to forestry ventures across sub-Saharan Africa.
A new company has been established to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Zambia in securing long-term funding.
COREangels MEA, in collaboration with PTS Investments Holdings and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AAST), has introduced a $10 million investment fund aimed at supporting early-stage technology startups across the Middle East and Africa (MEA).
