The new fund, named Unconventional Capital, offers a non-dilutive, revenue-based financing model, providing early-stage businesses with capital without requiring them to give up equity.

This approach is designed to address the challenges faced by many African SMEs in securing traditional venture capital funding.

The fund will be co-led by Esther Ndeti and Franziska Reh, who will serve as Managing Partners.

Ndeti is currently Uncap’s Investment Principal, while Reh is the CEO of the firm.

Unconventional Capital will collaborate with strategic partners such as O-Farms and SAIS to identify and support promising African businesses.

Global institutions, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bayer Foundation, have also expressed their support for the fund.

Uncap’s revenue-based financing model is expected to be particularly attractive to African SMEs that often struggle to raise capital while maintaining control over their operations.

Since its establishment in 2019, Uncap has invested in 87 companies across seven sub-Saharan African countries.

The firm plans to support each company with between $22,000 and $112,000 in funding. To be eligible, SMEs must be registered limited companies in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, or Nigeria, with at least two years in operation and a minimum revenue of $89,000 in the past 12 months.

In addition to launching the new fund, Uncap announced the separation of its financial operations from Level, a stand-alone SaaS platform designed to simplify investment management for funders and accelerators in Africa.