Madica, a pre-seed investment programme backed by US venture capital firm Flourish Ventures, has secured another $6 million to invest in 25 to 30 African startups over the next three years.
The funding will support early-stage companies with investments of up to $200,000 each, alongside 18 months of mentorship, executive coaching and help preparing to raise money from investors.
Madica said the entire $6 million would go towards new pre-seed and seed investments, with follow-on funding excluded. A separate budget will cover founder support, although the programme did not disclose how much has been allocated.
The fresh capital comes as funding for early-stage African startups continues to tighten. The number of startups raising between $100,000 and $1 million fell from 179 in the second half of 2025 to 100 in the first half of 2026, a 44% decline, according to Africa: The Big Deal, a startup funding tracker.
Funding also remains concentrated in a handful of markets. Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa accounted for 82% of startup funding in 2025, despite representing about 30% of Africa’s population.
Madica is targeting this gap by backing founders across the continent, particularly those operating outside these four established startup markets. Its investments fall within the funding range that has become increasingly difficult for early-stage companies to secure.
Flourish Ventures launched Madica in 2022 with an initial $6 million investment pool to back 25 to 30 startups over three years, alongside a separate $6 million allocation for founder support. The programme has invested in 18 startups across 10 African countries, with its first investments announced in 2024.
“Three years have given us valuable lessons and encouraging early signals, but building enduring companies and assessing venture outcomes takes longer,” said Emmanuel Adegboye, head of Madica.
The programme said its portfolio companies have raised, on average, twice the amount of Madica’s initial investment from other investors. Based on a $200,000 investment, that would translate to approximately $400,000 in additional funding per company.
However, the figure represents an average across the portfolio, meaning individual companies may have raised more or less. It also does not indicate whether Madica’s investments have generated returns.
Madica said all companies in its portfolio are majority African-owned. More than half have at least one female co-founder, while women lead 39% of the companies as chief executive officers.
In September 2026, the programme made its first investments in Algeria and Cameroon, expanding its presence across the continent. Adegboye said at the time that Madica now co-invests in most deals because its $200,000 investment alone is often insufficient to meet startups’ funding needs.
With the additional capital, Madica plans to assess its progress by whether portfolio companies can turn early traction into sustainable businesses and generate venture-scale returns. It also hopes its investment model will encourage other investors to back founders in underserved markets.
The programme said 40% of its applications already come from outside Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa, highlighting the demand for early-stage capital beyond the continent’s biggest startup ecosystems.