Capital, Exits, and the Future of African Venture: Inside the Lagos venture Finance Summit 

LAGOS, Nigeria — Africa’s venture capital ecosystem is at a crossroads. After years of record fundraising and headline-grabbing exits, the question now is no longer “Can African startups scale?” but “How do investors actually get their money back?”

This year’s summit includes an LP Selection Committee that has selected the top 20 fund managers to be matched with LPs at the 2026 LVF Summit. The selected GPs include some of the continent’s big name fund managers like; Aruwa Capital Management, Launch Africa, Endeavor Nigeria, Seedstars, Catalyst Fund, Conjunction Capital among others. The total amount raised by these GPs exceeds $800M and they collectively hold 76 exits under their belt.

Africa has produced unicorns. It has attracted billions in venture funding. But the pipeline from investment to exit remains broken in too many markets. For LPs questioning their exposure, for GPs sitting on maturing portfolios, and for family offices weighing their next allocation—the liquidity question can no longer be deferred.

Unlocking liquidity in Africa’s Private Market isn’t just a summit theme—it’s the defining issue for the next decade of African venture capital. The good news is that despite the global fundraising decline, GP fundraising in Africa is showing some sign of resilience as capital pools from African corporate investors have stepped up as the largest contributor to fundraising in the continent, with their share of commitments rising from 7% between 2022-2024 to 41% in 2025.

Similarly, regulatory changes are opening up new opportunities for pension funds to invest in private markets, particularly in Nigeria, where limits on private equity exposure have been raised, but allocation from domestic institutions into private equity and venture capital has followed only slowly. The truth is that these allocators need better signals on which managers are fundable and this event is designed to move policy to action through well curated matching with real allocation happening in the room.

The event is exclusively for investors. If you are a fund manager and allocator, you don’t want to miss this. Join the 450+ Investors participating in this year’s summit to get matched with the fellow GPs and LPs. For Angel investors and HNIs who are asking the question “when do I get my money back?,” this is where you get those answers backed with actionable insight.

The stage is set and the time is now. Join us as we mobilize local capital to back the next generation of African managers.

Where African Emerging Fund Managers and Capital Allocators Connect.