Investors / Novastar Ventures
Novastar Ventures
Venture capital
Novastar Ventures is a venture capital firm that has been investing in African start-ups since 2009, beginning with seed investments in East Africa and later expanding into West Africa. It manages institutional VC funds and describes itself as one of the largest VCs investing in Africa, with over US$350M in assets under management.
Invests inAI & Machine LearningE-commerce & Marketplaces
In its own wordsafricafintechhealthcaremobilitylogisticsagriculture
Your fit with Novastar Ventures
Four questions about your startup
See how your round matches what it backs, point by point.
Or find every investor that fitsNovastar Ventures lists 21 checked portfolio companies on its own site and is named in 4 funding rounds, 3 of them as lead. Its most frequent entry is Growth, 50% of the companies with a known first round. Its largest themes are AI & Machine Learning (22%), E-commerce & Marketplaces (19%) and Mobility & Logistics (11%). 47% of its companies are based in Kenya. It invests most often alongside British International Investment, 4DX Ventures and Manta Ray.
Counts come from funding rounds that name Novastar Ventures, complete from mid-2025: earlier rounds appear only when they were reported later. Round amounts and full round histories are on Fundup AI.
Round figures show recent activity, not Novastar Ventures' whole history. Rounds on record name 4 companies; its own site lists 21. Funding rounds are complete from mid-2025, so counts and the yearly trend undercount a firm that invested before then. The portfolio, themes and places come from its own site and are not affected.
Entry stage
share of companies by the stage of its first roundShow as a table
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Pre-seed | 0% |
| Seed | 0% |
| Series A | 25% |
| Series B | 25% |
| Growth | 50% |
Activity by year
rounds it joined, last 10 yearsShow as a table
| Total | Rounds it led | |
|---|---|---|
| '17 | 0 | 0 |
| '18 | 0 | 0 |
| '19 | 0 | 0 |
| '20 | 0 | 0 |
| '21 | 0 | 0 |
| '22 | 0 | 0 |
| '23 | 0 | 0 |
| '24 | 0 | 0 |
| '25 | 2 | 2 |
| '26 | 2 | 1 |
Investor profile
percentile among all firmsShow as a table
| Measure | Percentile of all firms | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio size | 55th | 22 companies |
| Recent activity | 69th | 2 rounds in 12 months |
| Early stage | 54th | 0% of entries at pre-seed or seed |
| Evidence | 84th | 14% of companies confirmed by a round |
| Sector focus | 25th | 22% in its largest sector |
| Reach | 88th | 7 countries |
Investment themes
share of its checked companiesThis firmAll checked companies
Show as a table
| This firm | All checked companies | |
|---|---|---|
| AI & Machine Learning | 22% | 18% |
| E-commerce & Marketplaces | 19% | 6% |
| Mobility & Logistics | 11% | 1% |
| Fintech | 8% | 12% |
| Healthcare & Biotech | 8% | 15% |
| Food & Agriculture | 6% | 3% |
| Space & Defense | 6% | 3% |
| Climate & Energy | 6% | 1% |
Invests most often with
firms sharing its portfolio companiesShow as a table
| Share | |
|---|---|
| British International Investment | 9 |
| 4DX Ventures | 3 |
| Manta Ray | 2 |
| TO Ventures | 2 |
| Western Technology Investment | 2 |
| Y Combinator | 2 |
| 3IF Ventures | 1 |
| AAIC Investment | 1 |
Its portfolio companies
where they are based, and what their own sites showSite status
- Site answers21100%
- No longer answers00%
- Points to another company00%
- Parked or sold domain00%
A site that stops answering three checks in a row is counted as no longer answering; that is not proof of closure. A site that points to another company is often an acquisition.
Co-investor network
who it backs companies with, and who they back togetherAll co-investors or Compare portfolios with British International Investment
Compare Novastar Ventures head to head
portfolio size, rounds, entry stages, themes and the companies both backThree or more firms at once: portfolio overlap.
Recent portfolio activity
when companies last raised with Novastar Ventures| Date | Company | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Sept 2026 | Series B Led | |
| 3 Nov 2025 | Series C+ Led | |
| 11 Aug 2025 | Series A Led |
Round details for Novastar Ventures
Amounts, full round histories and every co-investor in Novastar Ventures' rounds are on Fundup AI. VCinfo covers investors and their portfolios.
Portfolio
21 companies checked against their own sites| Company | What it does | Themes | First round with it | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARC Ride Ltd provides electric mobility solutions, including vehicles and charging infrastructure, for African cities. | Mobility & Logistics | Sept 2026Series B | Page + round | |
| BasiGo provides electric bus technology and financing solutions for public transport in Africa | Mobility & LogisticsSpace & Defense | Portfolio page | ||
| Breadfast is an online supermarket and delivery service that provides various products, including groceries, household essentials, and ready-to-eat meals. | E-commerce & MarketplacesFood & Agriculture | Portfolio page | ||
| Chowdeck delivers food, groceries, and local market products to customers. | Food & AgricultureE-commerce & Marketplaces | Aug 2025Series A | Page + round | |
| Elephant Healthcare partners with governments to digitise and boost health systems | Healthcare & Biotech | Portfolio page | ||
| The company provides car sharing services, allowing users to rent cars by the hour | Mobility & Logistics | Portfolio page | ||
| Ignitia provides weather intelligence using AI technology to predict extreme weather and offer real-time alerts and forecasts. | AI & Machine LearningClimate & Energy | Portfolio page | ||
| Portfolio page | ||||
| Komaza partners with smallholder farmers to turn underutilized land into thriving microforests and sustainably serve Africa's increasing demand for wood | AI & Machine LearningAI & Machine Learning | Portfolio page | ||
| MoKo sells furniture online in Kenya and delivers it | E-commerce & MarketplacesFintech | Portfolio page | ||
| Moniepoint provides an all-in-one payments, banking and operations platform for businesses and their customers. | FintechE-commerce & Marketplaces | Portfolio page | ||
| Portfolio page | ||||
| mPharma delivers access to medicines and healthcare services through its network of pharmacies and partners | Healthcare & BiotechE-commerce & Marketplaces | Nov 2025Series C+ | Page + round | |
| NewGlobe partners with governments to transform public education by building technology- and AI-enabled systems | EducationAI & Machine Learning | Portfolio page | ||
| PayGo Energy builds hardware and software solutions to help grow markets for LPG | E-commerce & MarketplacesClimate & Energy | Portfolio page | ||
| The company provides unlimited home internet services in Kenya. | Enterprise SoftwareConsumer | Portfolio page | ||
| Regen Organics collects, treats, and converts waste streams into regenerative agricultural and energy products | AI & Machine LearningAI & Machine Learning | Portfolio page | ||
| SOKO sells jewelry and accessories | Consumer | Portfolio page | ||
| The company works with farmers to improve life on Earth | AI & Machine LearningAI & Machine Learning | Portfolio page | ||
| TradeDepot connects global suppliers and importers with ease | E-commerce & MarketplacesDeveloper Tools | Portfolio page |
About this data
site last read 5 Nov 2026- Site
- novastarventures.com
- Last read
- 5 Nov 2026
- Watching since
- 5 Nov 2026
- Rounds since
- 11 Aug 2025
- Companies checked
- 21
Rates come from what VCinfo has observed since observation_start. Firms tend to remove companies that closed, so early rates understate reality. A company leaving a portfolio page does not mean it closed or exited. An unreachable site means our checks failed, nothing more.
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