Aruwa Capital Management, a Lagos-based female-founded early-stage growth equity and gender lens fund manager, has raised 90 per cent towards its US$40 million target for its second fund, Aruwa Capital Fund II.
Aruwa Capital Management is one of the few women-owned – and managed – growth equity funds on the African continent investing in untapped investment opportunities currently overlooked by other funds, investing in essential goods and services for Africa’s next billion people.
The intentional gender lens fund is focused on investing equity to established and fast growing companies in the small to lower mid-market segment in Nigeria and Ghana that are currently undervalued and under-served by larger financial institutions.
Having closed its first fund in 2022 at just over US$20 million, it has more than doubled that with the second close of Fund II, which has attracted investment from returning LPs including the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund (MFAGF), Visa Foundation, global family offices and HNIs, and new LPs such as Bank of Industry (BOI), Nigeria’s oldest and largest Development Finance Institution (DFI), and international investors such as British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor and EDFI Management Company, through its European Union funded Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI).
With this encouraging progress, Aruwa is on track to upsize its targeted size from US$40 million to US$50 million (with a hard cap of US$60 million) within this year, onboarding more global institutional investors.
Aruwa is focusing on essential sectors such as healthcare, energy access, financial services, and consumer staples like food and agribusiness, with initial ticket sizes ranging from US$1 million to US$3 million. Fund II already has two completed investments – Yikodeen, a pioneering indigenous manufacturer of safety boots, and a rapidly growing fast-casual dining restaurant chain in Nigeria, both positioned for improving economic opportunities for women and supporting inclusive growth.
