// Raba
🌊

// Raba

Raba is not a traditional β€œventure fund”. We are long-term business partners to founders. We operate as an investment partnership β€” defined as a group of people that focus their time, network, and capital to help founders build companies that generate outsized returns and solve real-world problems. We have been early partners to the founders of many category-defining African software and internet companies. This site is designed to help founders learn about who we are and what we do @Raba.

We build long-term partnerships with long-term people.

πŸ“–Β The Raba Review - sharing our latest thinking

πŸͺHow to Beat Devaluing FX, Big IPO in a "small" market | April 2024😎Growth at a reasonable cost | December 2023β›΅The African Flow: A Rising Tide that Lifts All Boats | September 2023πŸ₯ˆBuilding BIG companies in non-obvious markets, part II | April 2023πŸ’ŠNear term pain, long-term gain | November 2022πŸ’―100X revenue! | July 2022⚑Raba + Stitch Summit | April 2022πŸŒ€African Venture Capital & the GREAT compounding | December 2021🐿️Building BIG companies in non-obvious markets | October 2021🌿Why Africa Now and why we πŸ‘€ to Latam | July 2021πŸ’₯The next 10 years... | April 2021πŸ¦„A seminal moment for Flutterwave! | March 2021🧢Why we backed Stitch! | February 2021

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✏️A compendium of our thoughts

πŸ—οΈ 42 founders and teams we are building with

CompanyFirst partnered @Co-partnersFocusSector
Cloudline
Incubation

Schmidt Futures | VKAV

Software-powered autonomous airships and last-mile logistics

Climate
Moment
Incubation

General Catalyst | Multichoice | Rapyd

Payments and financial services

Fintech
Axis Pay
Pre-seed

firstminute | Sawari | Tiger Global

B2B2C fintech and payments company

Fintech
COVA
Pre-seed

Angels

Consolidated tracker for financial and digital assets

Fintech
Cleva Banking
Pre-seed

1984 | YCombinator

USD banking for African and global freelancers

Fintech
Flutterwave
Pre-seed

Avenir | PayPal | Tiger Global

Payments API infrastructure across Africa

Fintech
Fuse
Pre-seed

Shooroq | Sequoia Scout Fund

Payments and banking infrastructure for MENA

Fintech
Octo
Pre-seed

Raba as Founding partner

Consumer wallet and companion card

Fintech
OnePipe
Pre-seed

Tribe Capital

Banking as a service for African fintechs

Fintech
Ramani
Pre-seed

Village Global | YCombinator

Software and payments for distributors and merchants

Fintech
Shara
Pre-seed

Canaan | Index Ventures

Social payments and finance for African markets

Fintech
Revivo
Pre-seed

Musha | Village Global

Electronics parts, repair, and insurance marketplace

Fintech
Stitch
Pre-seed

firstminute | PayPal | Ribbit Capital

API infrastructure for African fintechs

Fintech
Thndr
Pre-seed

Prosus (Naspers) | Tiger Global

Digital investment platform focused on Egypt and beyond

Fintech
Trustcrow
Pre-seed

Angels

Real estate escrow and payments platform

Fintech
KERA
Seed

IFC | TO.VC

AI focused on Africa

AI
BVNK*
Seed

Avenir | Concentric | Tiger Global

Digital asset payments and banking

Fintech
Capi
Seed

firstminute | YCombinator

Francophone cross border money movement platform

Fintech
Cashi
Seed

Fawry

Merchant payments and software

Fintech
FloatPays
Seed

YCombinator

Fintech software focused on earned wage access

Fintech
Kwara
Seed

Norrsken | Softbank Emerge

Credit union focused challenger bank

Fintech
Nile.ag
Seed

Naspers Foundry | PIP

B2B marketplace and financial infrastructure

Fintech
SwypeX
Seed

Accel | Foundation Ventures

Spend management software and payments company

Fintech
Djamo
Series A

Partech

Digital bank focused on Francophone Africa

Fintech
Yoco
Series B+

Dragoneer | TPG

Merchant payments and software starting in South Africa

Fintech
Kobo360
Seed

Goldman Sachs | IFC

Digital freight forwarder and logistics for Africa

Logistics
Twiga
Seed

Goldman Sachs | IFC

Digital vertically integrated grocery for Africans

Logistics
Lori Systems
Series A

DST | Hillhouse Capital

Trucking logistics marketplace and software for African carriers

Logistics
Mara
Pre-seed

Alameda | Coinbase

Pan-African crypto wallet and infrastructure company

Crypto
Nestcoin
Pre-seed

Alameda | Distributed Global

Crypto and decentralised finance infrastructure

Crypto
Bitnob
Seed

FTX Ventures | Kingsway Capital

Lightning network payments infrastructure

Crypto
Busha
Seed

Cadenza | Jump Capital

Crypto exchange and payments

Crypto
Caliza
Seed

Abstract | QED | Valor

APIs for fintechs to offer crypto payments and wallets

Crypto
Float Capital
Seed

Alameda | Maven 11

DeFi primitives and infrastructure

Crypto
YellowCard
Series A

Coinbase | Square Inc | Valar

Pan-African crypto payments and exchange

Crypto
VALR
Series B

Coinbase | Pantera

Institutional crypto exchange and payments

Crypto
Future Africa
Seed

LocalGlobe

Holding company that builds and invests in African companies

HoldingCo
Pandora
Seed

OneBio

Genomics focused on African populations

Healthcare
54gene
Series A

Adjuvant | KdT | YCombinator

Global medical discovery using African DNA

Healthcare
mPharma
Series A

Breyer Capital | Social Capital

Software and data focused on digitising healthcare in Africa

Healthcare
AMMP
Seed

Point Nine

Software tools for renewable energy companies

Climate
TFK
Seed

a15 | CVentures

Building a fashion first ecommerce company in MENA

Consumer

TBA = To be announced. *angel and Raba. As of 12.31.2023.

πŸ—Ώ Our philosophy

We partner with founders building software and internet-first companies. We get involved early β€” during a time when we can have outsized impact. We have developed a series of investment themes that inform our partnership decisions. Our focus is on companies that facilitate the efficient movement of capital and essential products β€” the rails that enable other businesses to be built.

We believe long-term investment results are driven by a combination of an unconventional thesis, a rigorous investment process, and the ability to invest with a longer-term horizon than traditional market participants. Through our network of limited partners, we've built long-term thinking and company-building experience into our operating system from the start.

We align interests with our partners and are among the largest LPs in Raba's funds.

πŸ’ͺ🏾 Our team

Meet the team

Our broader team, our limited partners

We are proud to call the backers of Raba friends and partners. They come from varied backgrounds and include many of the best global investors and operators. Each is a welcome guest at our home. Partner fit and long-term relationships are at the core of our partnership. Many of our founders we have backed have invested their personal capital directly with us.

We are comfortable stating that we are NOT appropriate for most partners.

πŸ₯› Raba Β© 2024 | contact us: info@rabacap.com