African venture capital firm, Ventures Platform, has announced the appointment of Damilola Teidi as its inaugural Head of Platform and Networks. In her new role, Teidi will supervise the firm’s efforts to support its portfolio companies.
Before joining Ventures Platform, Teidi was the Director of Startup Support at Co-creation Hub, where she led the development of robust support systems for various startups across Africa. She was also previously the CEO of now defunct ride-sharing startup, GoMyWay.
Commenting on her appointment, Kola Aina, General Partner at Ventures Platform Fund, explained that Teidi’s experience working with startups across Africa would support the firm’s plans to provide adequate support to founders in its portfolio.
“VP Fund is thrilled to have Damilola onboard its leadership team. At Ventures Platform, we have always believed in supporting our founders to catalyse their efforts, and we intend to strengthen this as we scale. Hence, we believe that Damilola Teidi’s skill and experience will be an asset in enabling us to achieve this goal.”
Teidi also revealed her delight in joining the firm and building out programs for its founders.
“I am excited to join the team and build out different elements of the platform and networks practice. The goal is to build scalable support initiatives and harness the value of our collective networks to provide catalytic value to our founders.”
Founded in 2016 by Kola Aina, Ventures Platform invests in startups across Africa up to Series A and has notable startups such as Piggyvest, PayHippo, Mono, SeamlessHR, Tizeti, and Printivo as portfolio companies.
In December 2021, the firm also announced the first close of its $40 million fund with Michael Seibel, Adam Draper, Shola Akinlade, and Gbenga Oyebode as individual LPs. It also brought on organisations like the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, United Africa Company of Nigeria, and VFD Group.
With a good mix of local and international limited partners, Aina pointed out that this was keeping in line with his long-held belief that Africans should own a portion of African startups.
