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Raise Lens

AFIG Fund II: how to apply

By Andrew Holden

AFIG Fund II is a USD 135 million regional private equity fund managed by AFIG Funds, a West Africa-based investment manager with a track record of backing established businesses across the continent. The fund was launched in 2016 with a mandate to back African companies that have realistic potential to become regional market leaders. If you are running a growth-stage or mature business in Africa and you are looking for significant equity capital to expand operations regionally, this is worth your attention.

One important note upfront: this is an equity investment, not a grant. Capital comes in exchange for a stake in your company. That means dilution, investor oversight, and an eventual exit horizon. If non-dilutive funding is your primary goal, this fund is not the right fit. But for founders at Series B or beyond who need substantial capital to scale across African markets, AFIG Fund II represents one of the few continent-focused vehicles of this size.

Who should apply

AFIG Fund II is explicitly not designed for early-stage startups or organisations pursuing narrow climate-specific interventions. The fund's own framing centres on "established or growth-stage African enterprises," which in practice means:

  • Stage: Series B and above, or businesses that are already generating meaningful revenue and have demonstrated a repeatable model. The fund uses the tags "series-b-growth" and "scale-mature," so pre-revenue ventures are outside scope.
  • Geography: African companies only. The fund is pan-African in ambition, with the geographic scope covering the continent broadly rather than a single country or sub-region.
  • Sector: The fund is described as sector-agnostic and takes a portfolio-wide approach. There is no preference for climate, fintech, agriculture, or any other vertical stated in the available data.
  • Organisational type: Startups (at growth stage), SMEs, and larger companies are all listed as eligible organisation types. The common thread is readiness for regional expansion, not company size per se.

The ideal applicant profile is a founder or leadership team running a business that already has a defensible position in one market and has a credible plan, supported by numbers, for expanding into two or more additional African markets. If your pitch is "we want to prove the model," AFIG Fund II is probably too late-stage for you. If your pitch is "the model works, we need capital to run it at scale across the region," that is what this fund is built for.

If your eligibility is unclear from the above, the authoritative source is AFIG Funds directly. The fund's full description and known requirements are available on the Raise Lens opportunity page.

What they are looking for

The fund's stated investment thesis is backing companies with "regional blue-chip potential." That phrase does real work in how you should frame your application or first conversation with the team. Three requirements appear consistently in the fund's documentation:

Regional blue-chip potential. This is not just about current revenues. AFIG wants to see a credible path to becoming one of the dominant players in your sector across multiple African markets. A strong application demonstrates market size across target geographies, competitive positioning, and a management team that has either already operated regionally or has the capacity to do so.

Growth and expansion stage readiness. "Readiness" here is operational, not aspirational. The fund will want to see that your core business processes, financial controls, and governance structures can survive rapid scaling. Weak financial reporting, informal governance, or a single-point-of-failure management structure will raise flags. Prepare to show that your organisation can absorb capital and deploy it efficiently.

Sector-agnostic, portfolio-wide approach. Because the fund does not filter by sector, your competition for investment is not just companies in your vertical. You are being evaluated against the full range of African growth businesses. This means your relative returns story matters: why does your business offer a compelling risk-adjusted return compared to other opportunities AFIG could back? Build that comparison into how you present financials and projections.

How to apply

The available data does not specify a formal application portal, a letter of intent requirement, or a fixed deadline. The steps below reflect what is known and what is standard for funds of this type.

Step 1: Confirm current availability. Before preparing any materials, contact AFIG Funds directly to confirm whether Fund II is still actively deploying capital or whether a successor vehicle is relevant. Private equity funds typically have defined investment periods, and a 2016 vintage fund may be approaching the end of its investment window.

Step 2: Prepare your investment materials. Regardless of the specific submission format AFIG requests, you will need at minimum:

  • A pitch deck covering market opportunity, business model, traction, regional expansion plan, financial projections (3-5 years), and management team.
  • Audited financial statements for the past two to three years. For a fund of this size, informal accounts are unlikely to be acceptable.
  • A cap table showing current ownership structure and any existing investor rights.
  • A clear articulation of how much capital you are seeking, what you will use it for, and what equity or instrument you are offering in return.

Step 3: Warm introduction where possible. Like most private equity funds operating in emerging markets, AFIG Funds will be more responsive to approaches that come through a mutual contact, an existing portfolio company, or a financial adviser they already work with. A cold outreach is not impossible, but a warm introduction materially improves your chances of getting a first meeting.

Step 4: Be prepared for a multi-stage process. Equity investments of this scale involve due diligence that can take several months. Expect initial screening, management meetings, commercial and financial due diligence, legal review, and investment committee approval before any term sheet is issued. Build that timeline into your fundraising plan.

Because no application deadline appears in the available data, there is no hard cutoff to plan around. That said, if the fund is near the end of its investment period, timing becomes more sensitive. Move quickly once you have confirmed the fund is active.

Use this in Raise Lens

Start by saving this opportunity so you do not lose track of it. On the AFIG Fund II detail page, you can add it to a watchlist and set a reminder alert for any updates to the deadline or status.

While you are assessing fit, use the /opportunities feed to compare AFIG Fund II against other live equity and grant instruments across Africa. Filter by sector and funding type to see what else is open at your stage. This is particularly useful if AFIG Fund II turns out to be in a closed deployment period and you need alternatives quickly.

The /funders directory lets you research AFIG Funds in more depth and find other investors and grant-makers that are active in African growth markets. Looking at who else backs similar companies can surface co-investment opportunities or bridge funding options while you work through AFIG's diligence process.

Finally, follow the /wire briefings for ongoing signals about African capital markets, new fund launches, and shifts in investor focus across the continent. Knowing when a new vehicle is announced, or when a funder changes mandate, is often more valuable than reacting after the fact.

If you are running a growth-stage African business and regional expansion is the next chapter, the AFIG Fund II opportunity page has the full details and lets you save the opportunity, set reminders, and track it alongside everything else you are pursuing.