TLcom Capital, a leading Africa-focused venture capital firm, has expanded its early-stage portfolio through TAPSI [TIDE Africa Pre Seed Investments], its dedicated $5M pre-seed fund. With the latest investment in TurnStay, a South African travel payment platform that recently closed a $2M seed round, TAPSI has now deployed 50% of its total capital.
TAPSI: Driving Africa’s Pre-Seed Venture Capital
Launched in 2022, TAPSI was created to extend TLcom’s reach into pre-seed investments across Africa. The fund provides up to $200,000 in funding per startup along with access to TLcom’s global network, operational expertise, and more than 20 years of African venture investing experience.
TAPSI also acts as a feeder fund for TLcom’s core $154M TIDE Africa Fund II, enabling high-performing startups to secure larger funding rounds and continue scaling.
Building a Diverse Early-Stage Portfolio
Alongside TurnStay, the TAPSI portfolio includes:
* Talstack (Nigeria)
* Bright Financial (Sudan and Ethiopia)
* Tradehub (Egypt)
* Agrails (Kenya)
Three additional startups through its partnership with First Check Africa, supporting female founders at the pre-seed stage.
By 2026, TAPSI aims to finalize up to ten more pre-seed investments, reinforcing its mission to back diverse founding teams across Africa’s leading innovation hubs.
Sector-Agnostic Investment Strategy
TAPSI follows a sector-agnostic approach, focusing on high-potential industries where early-stage investments can create outsized impact. A strong example is Talstack, which leveraged TAPSI pre-seed funding to validate its model, gain traction, and later secure a seed round from TIDE Fund II in 2024.
This strategy highlights TLcom’s role as a multi-stage investor with a deep understanding of Africa’s startup funding lifecycle and the crucial role of early capital in scaling innovative businesses.
Supporting Founders from Idea to Exit
Eloho Omame, Partner at TLcom Capital, says:
“Pre-seed investments allow us to expand our portfolio and allocate capital across multiple stages of a company’s lifecycle. Our goal is to create massive value in underserved markets and collaborate with African founders to build from the start all the way to exit; be it an acquisition or in the form of an IPO. This is by no means easy for any start-up, in any sector; building in Africa is not for the faint-hearted. However, the likelihood of success significantly increases if we support and work with founders earlier on in their journeys and we grow alongside them.”
TLcom’s Growing Presence in African Tech
With approximately $250 million under management, TLcom Capital has built one of Africa’s most notable early-stage venture portfolios. Its investments include Pula, uLesson, Autochek, FairMoney, Educatly, HUB2, ILLA, Littlefish, SeamlessHR, and unicorn Andela.
Through TAPSI and TIDE Fund II, TLcom continues to empower ambitious entrepreneurs who are solving Africa’s most pressing challenges in underserved markets.
Eloho Omame concludes:
“With TAPSI as a dedicated pre-seed arm of our investment platform, TLcom is uniquely positioned to back companies across their entire growth journey from ideation and product-market fit to scaling and maturity, reinforcing our role as a long-term partner to Africa’s most ambitious founders. As we progress with this fund, we look forward to speaking with and supporting more early-stage start-ups from across the continent.”