In the past five weeks, TechCabal's "Ask an Investor" column has featured conversations with the heads of investment at Oui Capital, Antler Nigeria, Capria Africa, HoaQ, and Launch Africa, providing valuable insights into the African startup ecosystem. The fund managers shared their experiences on finding startups, guiding founders, and landing exits in Africa, highlighting three key questions: How do you deliver successful exits in Africa? What kind of support can startups expect? Which sectors are most likely to produce big wins?

One of the primary takeaways from these conversations is that delivering successful exits in Africa requires patience and discipline. The investors emphasized that the best exits begin with strong governance and rigorous reporting from day one. Oui Capital's Olu Oyinsan noted that secondaries, where an investor or founder sells some or all of their stake in a company to other investors, are a practical path to liquidity, citing their successful exit from Moniepoint as an example. Launch Africa's Uwemakpan concurred, stating that secondary sales have emerged as the "path of least resistance for liquidity" in Africa's evolving exit landscape.

Investors also stressed the importance of strategic support for startups. Launch Africa, for instance, provides deep operational support and networks, identifying two main areas of support: strategic support and operational support. They use a "coverage model" where each partner oversees a handful of startups deeply, offering weekly office hours and coaching founders on pitch preparation, deck refinement, cap-table management, and investor targeting. HoaQ, on the other hand, focuses on "hands-on, founder-first" guidance, leveraging their community of angels, founders, and micro-VCs to provide co-investments, pilot customers, or future hires.

Antler Nigeria takes a structured "day zero" approach, providing "pre-company" support to aspiring founders, matching them with co-founders, and offering a monthly stipend to focus on building. They continue with board-level guidance through future rounds, staying involved until Series C. Capria Africa, meanwhile, maintains an in-house AI team that partners with portfolio companies on product development, providing an optional yet highly valued offering for founders looking to implement advanced technologies without hiring entire engineering teams.

In terms of sectors, fintech remains a star performer, generating the largest raises and most rewarding exits in Africa. Launch Africa allocates 30-40% of its portfolio to fintech and fintech-adjacent solutions, while Capria devotes half of its Africa portfolio to fintech. However, B2B models are increasingly popular, with investors citing steadier revenue streams and clearer paths to profitability. Capria actively invests in agtech, healthtech, and jobtech, viewing these "transformative, large-scale solutions" as not just profitable but also essential for Africa's infrastructural gaps.

As the African startup ecosystem continues to evolve, investors are keeping a close eye on emerging trends, including AI and data. Capria invests in "applied AI," integrating AI into core workflows, and has set up an entire AI team that portfolio founders can tap for integration projects. Launch Africa expects AI/data startups to become a key theme, particularly as B2B solutions get more sophisticated about analyzing consumer or enterprise data.

In conclusion, achieving successful exits in Africa requires a combination of patience, discipline, and strategic support. Investors must be proactive in securing exits, and startups need to focus on strong governance, rigorous reporting, and building robust operational foundations. As the ecosystem continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how these insights shape the future of African startups.