Novastar Ventures

Novastar Ventures is one of Africa's largest and most established dedicated venture capital firms, founded in 2014 by Co-founders and Managing Partners Steve Beck and Andrew Carruthers. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with additional offices in Lagos, Nigeria and London — where Novastar Ventures Limited operates as an FCA-authorised entity — the firm runs a team of 10 across 4 partners. It has scaled across three vehicles: the East Africa Fund (Fund I), the Africa Fund II anchored by the European Investment Bank and British International Investment, and the new Africa People and Planet Fund III, which reached final close in early 2026 at $147 million and will for the first time deploy on a pan-African basis. Novastar leads rounds with an average cheque of approximately $1.5 million and a maximum of $5 million across seed, Series A, and Series B stages. The investment thesis is to back early- and growth-stage entrepreneurs building businesses that widen access, improve quality, and lower cost of basic goods and services for Africa's mass-market consumers — companies where positive social impact for low-income households is a natural by-product of commercial success. Sectors include e-mobility, agriculture, health tech, telecom, retail, energy, and fintech. Across 30 portfolio companies the fund has produced one unicorn: Moniepoint, a Nigerian fintech that achieved unicorn status in 2024 three years after Novastar's first cheque. Other standout portfolio names include Komaza, Africa's largest tree planter targeting one billion trees by 2030; BasiGo, an electric-bus Pay-as-you-Drive platform in East Africa; and Chowdeck. Novastar's pan-African expansion in Fund III, backed by institutional partners including Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, marks a significant broadening of geographic scope from its East and West Africa origins.