Inside Madica’s $200,000 early-stage venture strategy

Madica, an Africa-focused investment programme backed by Flourish Ventures, has spent three years writing $200,000 cheques into early-stage startups across 10 African markets, backing over a dozen companies in places often overlooked by conventional investors. Led by Emmanuel Adegboye from Dakar, Madica’s thesis is simple: some of the best early-stage companies on the continent are in markets “nobody is watching,” and investment patterns that concentrate capital in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt reflect investor proximity rather than merit.

“The biggest thing, which in a sense ties to Madica’s model, is our original thesis, which still holds: that we would back founders across sectors, markets, and founder profiles that are typically underfunded on the continent,” Adegboye said. “That need still exists.”

Madica was designed to correct what Adegboye calls a market failure: international capital flow that ignores high-potential startups because investors lack local presence. The fund requires each investment to tick at least one of four boxes—founder profile, gender, market, or sector—criteria chosen to surface entrepreneurs who are typically overlooked. At least half of Madica’s portfolio companies have a female co-founder, countering the misconception that there aren’t enough female founders to back in Africa.

• Geographic reach: Adegboye has deployed capital into 10 markets, including less-heralded countries such as Algeria and Cameroon.
• Ticket size and strategy: Madica initially assumed a standalone $200,000 cheque could propel early-stage firms; three years in, the team now typically co-invests to extend runway and diversify syndicates.
• Sectors targeted: The portfolio spans healthcare, mobility, AI, e-commerce, renewable energy and the circular economy, with Adegboye signalling a particular bias toward mobility and tangible problem-solving models combining technology and offline operations.
• Gender focus: At least 50% of Madica’s companies include a female co-founder, tackling a landscape where female-founded startups have historically taken a low single-digit share of funding.

Adegboye says the model evolved because early-stage companies on the continent need more capital for longer periods: “A lot of these companies need far more funding and for much longer, because it takes so much longer for firms to raise on the continent.” He stresses that syndicates raise the odds of survival through prolonged fundraising droughts.

On the macro funding picture, Adegboye points to a global concentration of venture capital and a shortage of funds flowing into early-stage deals. “Capital is concentrating in a handful of funds and also in a handful of startups globally,” he said, noting that much of the funding into Africa comes from outside the continent and that local currency and local institutional capital are in short supply. He argues that building a sustainable early-stage ecosystem requires more angel activity from high-net-worth individuals and channels that demonstrate the asset class works at the earliest stages.

Looking ahead, Madica intends to continue sourcing and backing founders in undercapitalised markets while adapting its playbook to the realities of longer fundraises. Adegboye’s hope is to surface more companies from unexpected markets that can scale into mainstream success stories—proof for local and international investors that early-stage opportunities across Africa extend far beyond the usual four markets.