About

LAVA fuels the future of the fastest-growing region in the world

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LAVA invests $100k-500k in startups building the future of finance and trust in Africa, whether built locally or globally. We focus on user-centric financial services and innovations that systematically eliminate trust barriers. We believe the future economy will be built from modular, interoperable building blocks, and our fund backs innovators at each layer of the stack.

How We Operate

Builders backing builders

As founders and builders ourselves, we thrive on meeting entrepreneurs in the trenches. We prioritize the founders we back, striving to be your best partners through both triumphs and challenges.

We focus on the long-term, and celebrate delayed gratification. We back those with the stamina and resilience to build what can become the plumbing of our future economy.

It takes an ecosystem

We're backing founders creating components of a new financial system - from novel banking solutions to innovative trust mechanisms. These components are designed for standalone success, with the potential to be part of a web of interoperable tools that accelerate the path to a better future.

We invest in the founders, and actively grow such ecosystems.

Truth seekers

We go below the surface and seek truth.

We question the fundamental assumptions of current financial and economic tools, so we design the future with stronger fundamentals. Building what was once unimaginable is an expression of freedom.

Simultaneously, we challenge our own and our founders’ assumptions, disprove our theses, seeking non-obvious patterns so we find paths of least resistance to success.

Bringing the best of the world to Africa

We leverage our deep global network - including leading founders, investors, and researchers from both East and West - to support our portfolio companies. We curated our own backers for this purpose.

We co-invest strategically, and facilitate introductions to larger funds as our startups scale.

Why 'LAVA'

Lava represents the creation of new lands, breaking free through Earth's crust with immense pressure. Unstoppable and fierce, it brings up islands from scratch and reshapes continents. Africa's youth mirror this force: hungry, tech-savvy, forging a new future. A billion strong, yet overlooked: they are the unseen lava about to erupt.

As African builders, we're not modifying old systems—we're creating new territories. We build on each other's work like successive lava flows, reshaping industries at unprecedented speed. Our impact lasts for generations, far beyond fleeting tweaks.

Flexible in course but unyielding in force, we advance. Our successes crystallize into innovation islands: fertile ground for new generations of growth.

LAVA is more than a firm. It's the transformative force of Africa's potential, a movement we're proud to be part of. We carry the name because lava is our north star.