Category: Press Releases

Alternative investments refer to a broad category of investment opportunities that are different from typical investments like bonds, cash, and stocks. Alternative investments help investors diversify their portfolios and potentially boost investment returns because, unlike traditional asset classes, they tend to move independently, offering a hedge against market downturns and also improving your portfolio performance. As an investor, are you considering alternative investments in Nigeria? Here’s everything you need to know before getting started.

Why Consider Alternative Investments in Nigeria?

Nigeria’s economy is one of the largest and fastest-growing in Africa. However, traditional investments like stocks and bonds involve certain limitations and processes. Alternative investments provide investors with a wider range of options to invest in the Nigerian economy.

What are the different types of alternative investments available in Nigeria?

• Real Estate: Real estate is a popular alternative investment in Nigeria. There are a number of different ways to invest in real estate, such as by purchasing rental properties or crowdfunding real estate projects. Investing in real estate is less risky and can offer rental income and appreciation in value over time.
  
• Private Equity: Private equity refers to investments in companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange. Private equity falls under two major categories, which are venture capital and venture buyout also known as Acquisitions. Venture capital is focused on investing in early-stage startups with high growth potential, while buyouts are more focused on more established or mature companies. Private equity can be a good way to invest in both startups and high-growth companies, but it is also a high-risk investment with a long holding period and threshold. 

• Private Debt: Private debt refers to loans made to companies or individuals that are not originated by banks. Private debt can take various forms, including term loans, revolving credit facilities, and convertible debt. It is also a higher-risk investment but slightly less risky than equity investments due to its priority of repayment, fixed-income nature, lower volatility, and focus on capital preservation.
• Hedge Funds: Hedge funds are investment pools that utilize a variety of strategies to generate high returns. Compared to other alternative investments, hedge funds typically offer greater liquidity which means they can easily be converted to ready cash. While certain alternative assets, like real estate and private equity, may have longer lock-up periods during which investors cannot easily access their capital, hedge funds often allow investors to access their investments periodically, although there may still be some restrictions. Investing in hedge funds comes with high risk because it involves complex strategies and may use leverage, but it can also be a good way to diversify a portfolio.

• Commodities: Commodities are basic materials used in production, such as oil, gold, and agricultural products. Commodity prices can be volatile and influenced by factors such as supply, demand, and weather. While commodities can offer a hedge against inflation because their prices tend to rise during periods of economic uncertainty or when the value of currencies goes down, investing directly can be complex.

What should you consider before investing in alternative investments?

• Risk: Alternative investments are generally considered to be higher risk than traditional investments. Therefore, it is important to know your risk tolerance before investing. 
• Liquidity: Alternative investments are often less liquid than traditional investments. This means that it may be difficult to sell them quickly.
• Investment Minimums: Some alternative investments have high investment minimums, which means that they may not be suitable for all investors.
• Regulation: The regulation of alternative investments in Nigeria is still evolving. It is important to do your research to understand the risks involved before investing in any alternative investment.

What are the available alternative investment companies in Nigeria?

If you are looking to invest in alternative investments in Nigeria, GetEquity is your go-to alternative investment platform. 

GetEquity offers a variety of alternative investment options, depending on your risk tolerance and investment goals. With GetEquity, you can explore different investment deals ranging from commodities to real estate and even private equity provided by accredited asset managers globally allowing you to diversify your wealth. 

To learn more about GetEquity, visit www.getequity.io.

Months ago, The GetEquity Team set out on a journey to create a space where lasting conversations on the growth of the tech ecosystem can be had as well as support the awesome startups building solutions for us all.

This birthed the Startup Festival.

The event which held on Saturday 19th of November, 2022 at the Glitz event centre, Lekki was a huge success with over 1000 guests, 20 exhibiting companies, media partners, 27 speakers, sponsors and the general public in attendance.

The event was graced with the likes of Agama Emomotimi, Managing Director, Nigerian Capital Market Institute; Zikora Okwor-Wewan, Partner, Springwoods LP; Oluwatimilehin Ogunyemi, Head of Business Operations & Partnerships, Nomba where they came to together to discuss topics ranging from how to Bridge the gap on payments to War for Talents in the African Startup scene and much more important conversations on the ecosystem. You can view the amazing lineup of speakers here

The event which lasted from the morning of Saturday 19th November 2022 till evening had multiple startups within the ecosystem present as exhibitors.  These startups like Pade, Kwakol, Cadana, Zedi Africa, Famasi Africa, Stakefair, Sendstack, and many others had the opportunity chance to showcase their products and services to festival attendees. 

Some of the highlights of the event include the opening speech to kickstart the event by GetEquity’s CEO Jude, pitches from 4  startups – Regxta – A digital bank focusing the financially underserved African population, Flowmono – A digital automation platform for businesses, Riltee – Real estate deomcratization platform and  Strich Technologies – solution built for small business digital commerce. Regxta was announced as winner of the startup pitch at the event.

The 5 panel sessions with key speakers focusing on the startup ecosystem in Nigeria and Africa were key moments has since received positive reviews from attendees across social media.

With the success of this event, GetEquity is looking to make the Startup Festival a continuous event and plans to host its next edition in 2023. 

To learn more about GetEquity and its suite of products, please visit www.getequity.io or send an email to support@getequity.io for more enquiries.

Till next year,

There is so much that goes into building a business that is not just limited to the solution or service being provided.

Startup founders have to think about a lot of things when starting out from creating potential partnerships to their finances, the market they intend to enter, and the tools they need to grow their business with as well as how to scale.

For us at GetEquity, it is not just about helping our startups get access to funds but also providing them with the right set of tools required to lay a good foundation for solid businesses.

Introducing Emmviron

Emmviron is a firm centered on meeting the needs of companies in diverse sectors commissioned to tackle the overwhelming deficiencies and challenges that are prevalent in the business world. They help clients achieve business goals and expectations with tactics employed to solve problems.

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with them to create and provide financial models, business plans, and projections among other business consultancy services for startups listed on GetEquity and interested in being part of the GetEquity community.

Emmanuel Oluwagbemi, CEO of Emmviron, has this to say:

Working together with GetEquity is a promising start and we are excited about it. This is a partnership that will help startups achieve their business expectations because of the similar goals we both share. We believe in GetEquity vision and we can’t wait to get started.

Temitope Ekundayo, Director of Growth at GetEquity:

We are happy to work with Emmviron to provide early stage startups access to the right business tools to see them succeed whether it’s access to real life well researched financial models to structuring their business model, market entry research, or go to market plans. We have a wide offer of services that Emmviron can help them tackle at very reduced fees to see them succeed. As a founder, I clearly understand the deep challenges businesses face on a regular basis, and for us at GetEquity, making these steps easier is our mission.

Through this Partnership, Emmviron will provide business consultancy services to startups in the GetEquity community, to access the services, startups will need to go through the following steps:

• Fill out a questionnaire required to give more insights into the business.
• One-on-One conversation with the emmviron team to discuss further tools needed.

The GetEquity team will reach out to startups who indicate interest on the next steps.

Written by Tolu Olawumi

[Nairobi, Kenya] As global economies rebound from the COVID-19 shock, things are looking up for African startup founders, an April 2022 report by African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association shows. A record-breaking USD5.2 billion was raised in 2021 by African firms — a majority going to tech-backed innovations on the continent, with data showing growth in volume and value of investment deals.

“African tech took center stage in 2021: 81% of VC deals in 2021 were in technology or technology-enabled companies operating across a variety of sectors. 16 super-sized deals (with a combined value of US$2.6 billion) took place in 2021, raised from 15 unique companies,” read the report, which cited figures from 604 companies across the continent.

Things are only looking up, as Q1 2022 data shows a strong start to the year for startups, with TechCrunch noting that there are ‘no signs of a slowdown in Africa’s tech funding.’ While this is good news for the startup ecosystem, a closer look shows that only a small percentage of African firms have access to this funding, GetEquity CEO, Jude Dike points out.

“We are excited to see sustained interest from big-ticket investors, and we see this as an affirmation of the potential that homegrown solutions have in solving the real-world problems consumers and companies face. Having worked in the African startup ecosystem, we also recognise that these opportunities are not accessible to many new firms — especially those in the pre-seed funding stage,” he explains, adding that lack of access to funding is a key impediment to promising startups.

Democratizing access to the startup funding

While on one hand companies struggle to access much-need capital for growth, local and individual investors also face challenges in finding early investment opportunities — a need that GetEquity is intent on addressing.

“We are democratizing access to the startup funding space — both for investors seeking to grow their money in companies with a high growth potential, and for startups seeking to raise capital to accelerate business growth. Our private marketplace is open to individual and institutional investors alike, and we have ensured this accessibility by making sure that one can back startups for even as little as USD10 (Ksh.1000)”

Founded in Nigeria in 2020, GetEquity is a private marketplace for investors and companies to trade digital securities and assets privately and securely. The platform allows companies or enterprises to digitalize their assets via tokens, and creates liquidity for them by connecting them to investors and syndicates who can buy and sell these assets. Firms seeking early-stage funding apply to be listed on the platform, undergo rigorous vetting processes, after which they are eligible for investment on the platform.

Early stage startup support

While conducting an East Africa market engagement in April, GetEquity Director of Growth/Co-Founder Temitope Ekundayo underscored the importance of connecting directly with founders, saying the company is committed to maintaining their hands-on startup support approach as they expand in the region.

Speaking to startups at a Nairobi Garage fireside chat, he pointed out that while most venture capitalist firms focus on firms at advanced growth stages, his team is committed to also offering budding firms the support they need to develop and scale.

“Early stage support involves a bit of handholding, and fortunately, we have a lot of startup superstars on our team — people who have started companies and scaled them, so they have practical insight into the real challenges founders face. So to support our partners we check in on them monthly, and assist them in problem-solving using the insights they share with us,” said Mr. Ekundayo.

Speaking in Nairobi on a panel discussion about startup access to funding in, he stated that while GetEquity’s main aim is to help African startups access funding, they also provide advice to the companies they list.

“Recently, one company in our portfolio was looking for a senior sales person for their team. Within my network, in just one day, I was able to source 20 good high-level CVs for people I know and trust will get the job done. From there it was up to him to recruit the most suitable candidate. At the end of the day, our job is to provide support, funding opportunities, and advice. In the end it is up to the companies to drive the business.”

East Africa Growth Lead Eve Mumbi adds that providing knowledge sharing opportunities is high on GetEquity’s agenda as they make expansion plans in the market.

“Businesses do not exist in a vacuum, therefore having first-hand knowledge of market realities within the East African context is crucial for companies targeting exponential growth. As we expand our network within the region, we are investing in personnel, research, and knowledge sharing opportunities for our founders. These efforts are aimed at ensuring that even as we help organizations get equity to escalate their growth, they have additional insights to make the best of it. So far, we have onboarded MyWagePay and Zemo Card and as we continue with our market visits within the region, we look forward to onboarding more partners in the next few months.”

The company will be kicking off a series of Masterclasses and funding round-tables in Q2 and Q3 2022, as well as market visits across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. To get updates on events within the region, register for the mailing list here.

Startups are constantly looking for the best ways to raise funds seamlessly and faster. At GetEquity, we provide a platform for startups to do this.

But as startups raise money, their team grows. With the fast-paced nature of startups, it can be quite difficult to manage finances, employee payroll, and other operational activities on a weekly or monthly basis while still being focused on company growth and revenue.

This is where Cadana comes in.

Cadana InstantPay, empowers employees, salaried workers or contractors to withdraw a percentage, pre-set by the company, of their real-time earnings and instantly transfer it to their bank or mobile money account. This solution is also known as Earned Wage Access (EWA). Cadana allows startups to run payroll efficiently, provide payments and invoicing functionality all on a single portal to manage all their finances in 20+ currencies, including digital currencies, so startups can hire and pay anyone anywhere.

Thereby providing startups with the ease of running their business while also maintaining their staff and books in an efficient manner.

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with Cadana to provide 3-month free access to startups listed on GetEquity.These startups would have a chance to manage their payroll seamlessly while also giving their employees a chance to access their salaries ahead of time thereby creating a more productive environment for their staff.

Additionally, Cadana will pair each business up with a dedicated account manager who can advise on payroll and statutory obligations for the business.

Our Head of Growth, Temitope Ekundayo, has this to say about the partnership: “Cadana is building modern day tools to ensure employees are well compensated for the immense value they bring to businesses, now with a click of a button, payroll headaches are solved and productivity and employee welfare is taken care of for good which every founder knows is the topmost and vital priority for them, we are happy to partner with Cadana to provide more ease to our Startups in our ecosystem in our vision to ensure Founders and Startups have access to tools and resources that makes them scale better and reduce any stress they may have while building their businesses”.

Albert Owusu-Asare, CEO and Co-founder, Cadana, also shares: “We believe SMB and startups are the backbone to the economy. We couldn’t be more proud of this partnership with GetEquity. We are excited to provide real time, flexible and borderless worker payments experiences to accelerate growth for the GetEquity community. With Cadana, startup operators can focus on what they do best — growing their businesses.’’

We are thrilled to announce another exciting partnership, this time with Wefunder, a global crowdfunding platform that allows institutional and individual angel investors (like you) to invest as low as $100 in startups and small businesses you believe in from around the world, not just technology but across many other SME industries.

Yes! We are absolutely stoked about this partnership for GetEquity, and for our community.

Why the partnership?

As you know, GetEquity is focused on giving African based startups an opportunity to raise capital from their community, and investors at large.

So, Wefunder and GetEquity have partnered to offer investors based in Africa the ability to invest in African-based startups who’ve opened up community round allocations for global investors on Wefunder. Win-Win, for startups and for investors.

GetEquity will co-list a portion of the startup’s allocation on our platform. This allows investors across Africa to invest in these startups through GetEquity which makes use of African-focused payment platforms without the need for a dollar account.

This also facilitates a seamless raise for these startups who would have access to a wider range of investors from both platforms. GetEquity Founders can also have the opportunity to raise via Wefunder and have access to investors abroad here

“We have always been big on partnerships and collaborations that create more value and opportunities for our users and for our community and this partnership with WeFunder gives us a chance to do a lot more for startups, individuals and institutional investors across Africa, we are really excited about the possibilities ” Jude Dike, CEO, GetEquity.

“The team at Wefunder could not be more excited than we are right now to be working with Jude, Temitope, Lamide, and the rest of the team at GetEquity. We believe this partnership will allow us the ability to double down on our charter. Our mission is to reduce the barriers to investing in dreams. Create more value and opportunities by helping more founders on the continent raise capital from investors in their ecosystems. Allowing everyone the right to invest in what they believe in. This pivotal partnership with GetEquity does that!” Adie Akuffo-Afful, Head of Venture Partners at Wefunder

Lagos, Nigeria — 8th December 2021: GetEquity, a Lagos-based technology startup redefining the venture capital and startup financing landscape, is excited to announce the launch of Dealroom — a suite of products that enables individuals, startups, VCs, and other investors to manage their capital raises and investments on an accessible virtual platform. Dealroom
complements GetEquity’s previously launched startup funding platform and further establishes the company as an all-encompassing facilitator of venture capital and startup financing.

This new suite of products enables GetEquity users to create private deal rooms where they can pool investments into startups and enables startups to manage their raises on a convenient and feature-packed platform. For example, a Series A startup can raise capital from their community
of users by creating a private deal room and inviting customers to invest. Dealroom features advanced tools for portfolio management, scenario modeling, valuation calculations, and more. VCs and institutional customers can use GetEquity’s Dealroom to share deal flow, raise capital for their existing portfolios, and systematically manage their own portfolios. Features for VC funds to platform their existing portfolios will come online in the coming weeks.

Dealroom breaks new ground in venture funding by enabling individuals to pool investments with other users. For example, a GetEquity user could identify a promising startup that they want to invest in and use the existing GetEquity platform to put in capital. With Dealroom, if that same user wanted to invest more than they could on just their own, they can now create a
private Dealroom and invite their friends to join, then structure their investment as one. This newly formed syndicate could then manage members, invest in new companies, and have access to all the management tools that VCs use. While in private beta, syndicates formed on GetEquity used Dealroom to raise over $150,000.

GetEquity CEO and Co-founder Dike Jude commented, “the launch of GetEquity’s Dealroom brings world-class capital raising tools to any startup and investor. Our first product was focused on bringing African startup investment opportunities to new audiences. With Dealroom, we are introducing new and secure ways for our users to pool and organize investments, manage deal flow, and raise capital for their portfolios. We are excited for our startup and investor users to get started with these new features.”

GreenHouse Capital (GHC), the leading African fintech investment fund and platform focused on supporting early-stage companies and world-class emerging market entrepreneurs, is one of the first institutional customers to use the platform. GHC previously led GetEquity’s pre-seed round.

Bunmi Akinyemiju, Founding Partner of GHC, commented, “there is a massive global interest in African investments, and GetEquity has already brought many promising startups onto a platform where they can raise money from diverse investors, including retail investors. This new product elevates GetEquity’s services and further increases the value offering for investors like
GHC.”

About GetEquity
GetEquity is Africa’s leading fundraising and venture portfolio management company. The company was founded in Nigeria by Jude Dike, Temitope Ekundayo, and Williams Okafor, two seasoned engineers and a serial entrepreneur with a combined 20+ years of experience in building products for the African market. GetEquity’s goal is to reduce friction between founders and the funding they need by giving them access to a wide range of funding options.

https://www.getequity.io/

hello@getequity.io

Lagos, Nigeria, July 12th, 2021– GetEquity, a Lagos-based technology startup redefining the venture capital and startup financing landscape, is thrilled to announce the close of their six-figure pre-seed round led by GreenHouse Capital. The close of this round also marks the launch of GetEquity’s first product: a first-of-its-kind venture funding platform that seamlessly connects entrepreneurs and investors, unlocking global capital for African and emerging market startups.

Founded by Jude Dike and William Okafor, GetEquity’s mission is to build and support Africa’s largest startup financing ecosystem. Startups can list themselves through the GetEquity platform and market to institutional investors and public users using the platform. GetEquity enables anyone to buy equity in a listed startup for as little as $10.

GetEquity CEO and Co-founder Dike Jude commented,

GetEquity is challenging the status quo of startup financing and venture capital. We are democratizing access to startup funding and thereby expanding the pie for previously underfunded and underserved startups. This pre-seed round investment will enable us to kickstart our vision of building Africa’s biggest startup financing ecosystem.

GreenHouse Capital (GHC), the leading African fintech investment fund and platform focused on supporting early-stage companies and world-class emerging market entrepreneurs, led the pre-seed round. GetEquity benefited from GHC’s advisory services and direct mentoring from GHC Partner Bunmi Akinyemiju and Principal Ruby Nimkar.

Bunmi Akinyemiju, Founding Partner of GHC, commented,

We are proud to see GetEquity’s revolutionary platform launch. One of our missions at GHC is to bring African startups to the world. GetEquity’s platform advances this mission by democratizing access to the continent’s fastest-growing startups. We also believe in ‘founders backing founders’ and have been thrilled to directly work with GetEquity from an early stage.

The increased visibility that the platform will give African startups will inevitably result in larger investment rounds, faster closes, and an overall raising of the international profile of the African startup space.