Founding Partner at Ventures Platform · Joined 2016
View Live Interactive Profile →Kola Aina was already an active angel investor in Nigeria's tech ecosystem, backing companies like Moniepoint early, before formalizing his investment activity by founding Ventures Platform in Abuja in 2016. His firm became one of Africa's most active early-stage funds by taking a deliberately contrarian geographic approach - building from Abuja rather than the more crowded Lagos VC scene, and extending into Francophone West African markets that most Anglophone-focused firms overlook. Ventures Platform's clearest proof point came early: it backed Paystack before Stripe acquired the Nigerian payments company for approximately $200 million in 2020, and the firm has since backed more than 90 startups including PiggyVest, Moniepoint, Tizeti, and Thrive Agric. Aina serves on Nigeria's Presidential Committee for Job Creation and Youth Employment and chairs the board of Ventures Park, an innovation campus in Abuja.