Hello Fellow Founders,
December's data just dropped!
If you're raising capital right now, you've probably heard the same advice a thousand times: "Focus on finding a lead investor in London or SF."
It's standard advice. Last quarter's data proves this wrong. I just finished analyzing data from 93 active investment houses in our database for Q4 2025.
The data tells a very different story. The "traditional" Series A is disappearing. In its place, we're seeing something messier, more global, and- frankly- more accessible for founders who know where to look.
Here are 3 non-obvious trends from last quarter that you can use to fill your round and find the right investors.
1. The Rise of Angels
Traditional VCs are moving higher and higher to safe bets (Series A/B). Meanwhile, the Pre-Seed gap is being aggressively filled by successful African founders recycling their capital. This shows maturity in the ecosystem- ten years ago, this wasn't the case.
Examples: We saw established founders appearing as investors alongside big-name funds. Chinedu Azodoh and Tayo Bamiduro (Founders of Max.ng) appeared in deals alongside institutional investors like FSDH Asset Management and Techstars.
What I recommend: Stop pitching junior analysts at big funds for your first check. Pitch the founders who raised the exact amount 5 years ago. They get it, they move faster, and they're writing checks now.
PS: We're contemplating opening up our Angel investor data via API to subscribers. If you're interested, let me know. If we get enough demand, we'll launch this as a product.
2. The Rise of the "United Nations" Cap Table (I couldn’t figure out a better title :))
The days of one VC taking 50% of your round are fading. We're seeing massive syndicates composed of diverse global investors joining forces for single deals. This may be good (possibly quicker to close your round) or bad (too many investors on your cap table).
Example: The recent $12M Series A round we tracked (Chari) wasn't funded by one big VC firm. It had 18 investors from Japan (Uncovered Fund), Morocco (Afri Mobility), Madagascar (Axian), the United States (P1 Ventures), and France (Orange Ventures).
What I recommend: Stop obsessing over landing one "brand name" lead. You can build a robust Series A by aggregating regional champions. Pitch the best fund in Tokyo and in Mauritius. Just make sure you do this capital-efficiently- don't spend all your money on flights!
3. Grants Are the Hidden Gem
I've always known this. I've seen it in the data historically. I've seen it in my portfolio companies. Now it's becoming glaringly obvious.
A significant volume of funding activity in Q4 came from competitions and grants. This is becoming a primary investment channel.
Standard Chartered helped 7 startups in Kenya last quarter, as did NBA Africa (one of my portco’s is an alumni). Together, they accounted for over 10% of the volume in this period.
The Play: The funding environment is tough. Consider competitions and grant applications as a genuine strategy. Just make sure they don't become a distraction from the core thing- growing your business.
A word from our sponsors:
Daily news for curious minds.
Be the smartest person in the room. 1440 navigates 100+ sources to deliver a comprehensive, unbiased news roundup — politics, business, culture, and more — in a quick, 5-minute read. Completely free, completely factual.
In conclusion…
The capital is there. It just looks different than it did in 2021. If Q4 data is any reflection, it looks like a grant from a bank, followed by a check from a Nigerian founder, rounded out by a VC in Tokyo.
Current Focus: We're investigating whether venture capitalists exhibit investment bias toward startups linked to their alma maters- or toward institutions they favor even if they have no personal affiliation. We're applying the same hypothesis to top accelerators like Y Combinator. This long-term analysis will test whether the data validates these network-driven investment patterns.
See you in the trenches,
Your fellow founder,
Nnamdi