Madica, the pre-seed programme backed by US venture firm Flourish Ventures, has received $6 million in fresh capital from Flourish to back 25 to 30 more African startups over the next three years, TechCabal reported on 27 October. Each company can still get up to $200,000, plus 18 months of mentorship, executive coaching and investor-readiness support.
All $6 million will go into new pre-seed and seed deals, with none set aside for follow-on rounds, Madica said. A separate, undisclosed budget pays for founder support.
Money where the gap is
The timing matters because early cheques are drying up. Madica's $200,000 tickets sit in the range investors are pulling back from, and the programme deliberately looks beyond the four big markets: Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa took 82% of startup funding in 2025 while holding about 30% of Africa's people, according to TechCabal. About 40% of Madica's applications already come from outside those four, and in September it made its first investments in Algeria and Cameroon.
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- 18 startups backed in 10 countries since Flourish launched Madica in October 2022, with the first investments in 2024.
- Portfolio companies have gone on to raise, on average, twice Madica's investment from other investors. Madica says this is an average and says nothing about returns.
- Every company is majority African-owned; more than half have at least one female co-founder and 39% have a female CEO.
"Three years have given us valuable lessons and encouraging early signals, but building enduring companies and assessing venture outcomes takes longer," said Emmanuel Adegboye, head of Madica. He told TechCabal in September that Madica now co-invests in most deals because a $200,000 cheque alone is often not enough. Madica says it will judge the extension by whether its startups turn early traction into lasting growth and venture returns.
