DPI Venture Capital, the early-stage arm of Development Partners International—a private equity firm managing more than $3 billion in assets across Africa—has reached a final close of over $112 million for its Nclude Fund.
Ashley Lewis, managing partner and head of DPI Venture Capital, told TechCabal that virtually all the capital was committed by financial services institutions, with 93% originating from within Africa. By comparison, African investors supplied just 37% of the funding secured by the continent’s startups in the first half of 2026, according to TechCabal Insights.
At $112 million, Nclude’s final close exceeds the combined total raised by all Africa-focused venture funds in 2025: the African Private Capital Association (AVCA) recorded just six final closes totalling $107 million that year, an 87% drop compared with 2024.
The fund is notable not only for its scale in a depressed market, but because it reverses the conventional architecture of African venture capital, where development finance institutions (DFIs) and Western limited partners typically anchor the ecosystem.
“There is a lot of discussion about how funds can move beyond the DFI-backed model to more commercial funding, and I think Nclude and DPI Venture Capital show that there are working paths to capital from unusual sources,” said Lewis.
Nclude started in March 2022 as a fintech fund in Egypt, launched after the Central Bank of Egypt approved it. Banque Misr was the anchor investor, with National Bank of Egypt and Banque du Caire as strategic investors, and the Egyptian Banks Company, e-Finance and Mastercard joined later. Global Ventures managed the fund at first, but in 2025, after a restructuring, DPI became its adviser and launched DPI Venture Capital to run it.
When DPI assumed control, Banque Misr stated that the fund held $105 million in assets under management against an initial $150 million target. While the $112 million close settles below that original ambition, Lewis maintained that DPI did not establish a rigid cap.
With unallocated capital already available upon takeover, the manager spent roughly 12 months curating a select group of commercial institutional investors whose strategic footprints aligned with the fund’s financial services mandate.
The fund targets core fintechs alongside embedded finance providers—such as real estate platforms distributing mortgage products. Under DPI’s stewardship, Nclude expanded its mandate to span seed through Series C rounds, carved out a minimum 10% allocation for seed-stage bets, and began deploying outside Egypt, with up to 30% of capital permitted across broader regional markets.
Writing equity cheques between $500,000 and $10 million, the fund has backed 15 companies over the past 18 months; Lewis expects the portfolio to mature at between 22 and 24 investments.
Its portfolio includes Nawy, the Egyptian proptech platform that secured a $52 million Series A; Paymob, the digital payments infrastructure provider that closed a $35 million pre-Series C round led by Mubadala and the EBRD; FlapKap, a UAE-based revenue-based financing platform for SMEs that raised $34 million; Money Fellows, a digitised money circles (ROSCAs) platform that raised $13 million; Kera, a healthcare AI company operating across Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire; and Accord Partners, an accounting and corporate audit AI aggregator focused on Saudi Arabia.
Below, Ashley Lewis discusses how DPI structured the raise, where the capital is being deployed, and the secondary and trade exit pathways the firm is prioritising in a constrained market.
This interview has been edited lightly for clarity and length.
What was the fundraising process like?
We became advisers to the Nclude Fund in 2025, and getting there took some time. During that period we started to rethink what success would look like. The fund was championed by the Central Bank of Egypt, and all its LPs were financial services players, mostly banks. We wanted to continue in that vein. There was a special connection between the regulatory view, the financial services view, and what technology can do for the ecosystem.
Success for us meant going to a small number of LPs and keeping the base the same. The ones we brought on are, for the most part, African and regional financial services players.
That made this fundraise different from what most GPs go through, where you are looking at DFIs and global LPs. It still takes time to get LPs over the line, and we worked closely with them over about 12 months.
What target did you set?
We approached the target differently. We focused on aligned partnerships and did not set an explicit fund size target. When we became adviser, the fund still had dry powder to deploy, so we wanted investors aligned with the broader vision who were also financial services players. That is different from how most funds set a target and then go to market to maximise it.
How have you deployed capital since DPI took over?
Our first goal was to look after the existing portfolio. There were eight companies in it. Several needed follow-on investment and some were raising competitive rounds, so we put capital into those first.
Then we saw a strong opportunity in Egypt and closed several rounds there. We led a round for Money Fellows and invested in the proptech company Nawy, among others.
The other ambition was to use the international mandate, which allows 30% of the fund to go anywhere in Africa or the Middle East. That led to two deals: Kera, a health AI business in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, and Accord Partners, an Egyptian founder’s AI roll-up that launched first in Saudi Arabia.
What has changed since DPI took over?
Four things. We grew the team. We expanded the mandate, which ran from seed to Series B, to include Series C, because we were seeing well-priced deals at that stage. We restructured parts of the fund so at least 10% now goes to seed.
And we launched a VC academy this year, which was already in the mandate but had never been used, to train the next generation of venture capital leaders in how we invest.
Does the fund have an AI mandate?
We do not have an AI-specific mandate. But AI is clearly disrupting many technology businesses, and new founders are launching with it at the core. Our mandate remains tech, embedded finance and financial inclusion, and AI is changing how products in this space are delivered, which changes how we invest.
Our two latest companies are AI-native. Accord Partners is built around using AI to change auditing and accounting, doing roll-ups more efficiently to produce better outcomes for mid-sized firms. Kera has leadership with AI-native backgrounds and is bringing better ways of managing patients and insurance products into the health ecosystem. We still consider both fintech businesses.
AI is no longer its own vertical. It cuts across everything, and we see it in every business we screen.
What does a company outside fintech need to stand out to you?
On the surface, one might look like a proptech business, a used-car marketplace or a health company. Built into its model is a financial product that improves affordability and access for consumers and small businesses, or changes how customers engage with the business.
These companies have an unfair advantage from their data and their closeness to customers, which lets them size, price and deliver that product well. We need to see it built in before we can invest.
Nawy is the example. On the surface it brokers and sells homes, and it has also built one of the leading mortgage products in the market. That is not its main focus, and it helps make homes more affordable for buyers.
Your cheques range from $500,000 to $10 million. How do you split between stages?
This is a multi-stage fund, which gives us flexibility to adapt to the market.
We expect 10% to 20% of the portfolio to be seed stage, and right now we are closer to 20%. Later-stage cheques run upwards of $5 million, and those will be the anchor businesses.
The split is about diversification and maximising returns. We have made big bets at Series B and pre-Series C, and I am excited to explore the earlier stages too.
How much dry powder is left?
We do not want to disclose the amount. We have dry powder, we are actively deploying, and we have made a lot of investments over the last 18 months, so the portfolio is becoming quite robust.
How many more companies will you add, and in which sectors?
We have invested in 15 and expect to be closer to 22 to 24 by the end of the fund’s life. The mandate remains fintech and fintech-enabled. At the outer edges of African technology, such as deep tech or space tech, it will be very hard for us to invest unless there is a financial product built in.
Some areas keep coming up. The future of work, and how workers can be better supported in their financial lives. Health, where we have doubled down and have a handful of portfolio companies. SME lending, where I still think there is disruption to come. And what look like traditional businesses — selling cars, furniture, other goods — where the question is how to better finance the customers underneath.
What support do you give startups beyond capital?
At DPI we have a fully embedded value creation team that works with companies day to day, and as the newest part of DPI we have been able to draw on it.
One big piece of work this year is a playbook for companies outside Egypt that want to expand into the country. We use our regulatory connections, our banking connections and our understanding of the market to help them through that.
We have also helped companies through very difficult times, including raising equity and debt through our networks. We are active on governance, with board and observer seats. Different companies need different levels of support, and with some we meet every week.
What exit routes do you see?
One of the biggest benefits of sitting inside DPI is that the firm has exited many companies through different routes. Optasia listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in November 2025.
Last week MNT-Halan, another of our fintech unicorns, listed on the Egyptian Exchange. We have seen IPOs in Morocco too, so we have validated the public listing route.
We have also exited to buyers in the Middle East. That matters, because several of our companies are active in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman and are looking at potential acquisitions from Saudi buyers, sovereign or otherwise. We have validated sales to strategic buyers, and management buybacks.
The first three are the routes many of our early-stage companies are working towards, and they can learn directly from how our DPI colleagues did it.
What should people take from how this fund was raised?
The uniqueness of the funding sources. Nearly 100% of the funding came from financial services organisations, and 93% of the capital came from Africa. African corporates are really engaged in this space.
There is a lot of discussion about how to scale a fund and move out of the DFI-backed model into more commercial funding.
Nclude is a good case for pathways to capital from unique sources. That 93% matters: sourcing capital directly from Africa to back African founders and solutions.
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