The fund is the latest fund launched by Norrsken after closing €125,000,000 ($139,400,000) impact fund for European startups last March and has reached its first close of $110,000,000.

Hans Otterling, a partner at Northzone, a U.K.-based early VC firm that led the investment in Adalberth’s previous company Klarna, is Norrsken’s founding partner alongside the Klarna co-founder.

Making up the firm’s investment are the general partners Natalie Kolbe, the ex-global head of private equity at Actis, a private equity fund investing in emerging markets; her colleague, Ngetha Waithaka; and Lexi Novitske, the ex-managing partner at Acuity Ventures Platform. 

Before Acuity, Novitske was principal at Singularity Investments. Portfolio companies across both firms include API fintechs such as Mono and OnePipe; and exited companies like Flutterwave, Paystack and mPharma.

Norrsken22 intends to be that growth-stage local-based firm that will enable startups to unlock significant partnerships to grow revenue, find the best talent and facilitate expansion plans across Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

The firm is the latest big-sized Africa-focused VC fund that includes the likes of TLcom Capital which recently closed nearly half of its new $150,000,000 fund; Novastar Ventures, a $200,000,000 fund; and Partech Ventures, a $143,000,000 fund.

While the others seldomly invest above Series B rounds, Norrsken22 is willing to go beyond that stage.

Norrsken22 plans to invest 40% of its capital, about $80,000,000 in Series A and B companies and the rest in follow-on rounds from Series C up until exit.

The firm will make 20 investments at an average ticket size of $10,000,000 and may go as high as $16,000,000, including follow-on rounds in some portfolio companies, he continued.

Per sectors, Norrsken22 will rely on its general partners’ years of experience and investment philosophies to back startups in fintech, medtech, edtech and market-enabling solutions such as B2B marketplaces and inventory management businesses.

Of the $110,000,000 first close reached by Norrsken22, $65,000,000 comes from a group of unicorn founders globally. Some of them include Flutterwave co-founder Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola; Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström; iZettle co-founder, Jacob de Geer; Delivery Hero co-founder Niklas Östberg. Others include Carl Manneh, co-founder Mojang; Sebastian Knutsson, co-founder King; and Willard Ahdritz, founder of Kobalt Music.

Asides from the capital, the unicorn founders will help founders understand what it takes to bring their companies from series A to billion-dollar companies, said the founding partners. The Norrsken22 African Tech Growth Fund is also supported by a local advisory council board, which according to the partners, will help portfolio startups navigate business challenges across the continent.

Nonkululeko Nyembezi, the chairman of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), is a member of this board. Arnold Ekpe, the ex-group chief executive at pan-African bank Ecobank; Phuthuma Nhleko, an ex-chief executive at telecoms giant MTN; and Shingai Mutasa, founder and chief executive at Harare-based investment firm Masawara are the others.

As an anchor shareholder, the Norrsken Foundation intends to re-invest into projects across the continent, including the Kigali House.

The round was led by Lofty Inc Capital, and had participation from Techstars – Boulder, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, Norrsken Foundation, Microtraction, DFS Labs, Oxford Seed Fund, Enza Capital, Agrolay Advisors, Ire Aderinokun, Jesse Ovia, Ademola Adesina, and other angel investors.

Founded by Guy Futi (CEO), Adinlewa “Fikayo” Akinwale (CTO), Mark Edomwande, Kunle Ogungbamila, and Namir El-Khouri, Orda.Africa is a cloud-based restaurant operating system built for African chefs and food business owners.

Orda’s ePos, integrations, and lending solutions enable Africa’s millions of food business owners to grow and scale their businesses. With Orda, restaurants can manage end-to-end operations from one place.

Orda has developed a full-stack approach to integrating local payments, logistic companies while building inventory management, and business analytics for small to medium-sized food businesses. It says it is the only technology solution on the continent that allows restaurants to accept and process all their in-store, website, social media, Whatsapp, Jumia Food, Glovo, Bolt Food orders from one easy-to-use interface.

Speaking on the inspiration behind the technology, Guy Futi, CEO of Orda said “We kept trying to address the very real pain points of chefs, caterers and small restaurants and from that Orda grew. Before Orda, a small food business owner could spend up to 4 hours a day  reconciling transactions while trying to figure out losses. We looked to alleviate that burden. In the process we noticed that food business owners were not fully integrated with local payment solutions, online sales channels, and logistic providers. This made their operations even more difficult.”

Although a relatively new technology subsector, cloud-based points of sales have been rising in popularity in recent years.

A 2021 report put the global market size at $72.8 billion is expected to reach USD 116.27 billion by 2026. In the US, market leaders, Toast —which Orda is modeled after, announced revenues of $486.4 million in Q3 2021.

In Africa, Orda is believed to be among the first bottom-up software providers for restaurants. Built by an African team, the startup’s cloud-based solution factors peculiarities unique to the market. For instance, their ePos has the ability to operate in remote areas with little to no internet coverage.

“Orda was built from a near 18 months of a collaborative customer feedback loop. We listened to everything, from how African restaurants reconcile inventory, how customers pay, to how they handle logistics and more. We can confidently say that no one has done as much work as we have to build an end-to-end solution for our food business owners. We are excited to usher in much needed digitization to the sector”, says Fikayo Akinwale, the CTO.

The startup’s cloud-based solution is currently available for restaurants in Nigeria and Kenya. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) has been growing at more than 15% week over week as Orda now processes thousands of weekly transactions.

Speaking on the raise, Idris Ayodeji Bello, managing partner of LoftyInc Capital said, “We loved investing in Orda because it is building the core digital infrastructure for restaurants across Africa. The team has done the hard work of figuring out the core problems that African restaurant owners are facing and is building a solution that can revolutionise the food business across the continent. LoftyInc is excited to back a solution-focused team like Orda.”

Following the raise, the startup is looking to increase its rate of growth and expansion across the continent.