Ventures Platform was founded by Kola Aina in Abuja in June 2016, after he'd already been actively angel investing across Nigeria's tech scene. The firm's geographic starting point is deliberate: building from Abuja rather than the more saturated Lagos venture ecosystem gave it earlier access to founders in northern Nigeria and, more recently, Francophone West Africa, markets most Anglophone-focused firms overlook entirely. That first-mover instinct produced Paystack, one of the firm's earliest bets and still the most consequential Nigerian startup acquisition on record when Stripe bought it for roughly $200 million in 2020. Ventures Platform has since backed more than 90 startups across fintech, healthtech, agritech, and AI, closing $64 million toward a $75 million target for Fund II in November 2025 with backing from the IFC, British International Investment, and Nigeria's government-backed iDICE program - the first time the Nigerian government has invested directly in a venture fund.
Paystack's 2020 acquisition by Stripe for approximately $200 million - Ventures Platform was an early institutional investor in the Nigerian payments company, still the largest startup acquisition in Nigerian history at the time