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Since 2023, Commerce Ventures has backed 3 African startups across 4 disclosed funding rounds totaling $84M, most heavily in Kenya and Fintech.
Commerce Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm focused on technology innovations in the retail and financial services ecosystems. The firm was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its official website is hosted at commerce.vc. Commerce Ventures invests in early stage companies, including seed and Series A, and can also invest beyond these stages where there is strong market traction. The firm focuses on sectors such as fintech, payments, banking technology, insurance technology and broader commerce infrastructure. According to the available investment data, Commerce Ventures has backed multiple African technology companies, with a particular emphasis on Nigeria. Investments in the region span cybersecurity, crypto and Web3 infrastructure, legal and compliance technology and fintech. In Africa, Commerce Ventures has participated in funding rounds for companies such as Smile ID, which provides identity verification and fraud prevention across African markets, Conduit, which enables cross border business payments using fiat and stablecoins, Checker, which offers an API for stablecoin liquidity and cross border payments and Rulebase, which automates financial compliance and quality assurance. These investments indicate a focus on infrastructure that supports secure, compliant and scalable digital financial services in African markets.
Data updated · Sep 2, 2026
Commerce Ventures has backed 3 African startups across 4 disclosed funding rounds tracked on Liners, totaling $84M since 2023.
Mostly Series B: 2 of its 4 tracked rounds are at that stage, followed by Seed (1).
Its tracked rounds lean toward Fintech (2), Cybersecurity (2).
Commerce Ventures most often shares rounds with Costanoa Ventures (2 shared deals), Norrsken22 (2 shared deals), ValueStream Ventures (2 shared deals).
The official website for Commerce Ventures is commerce.vc. This site provides information about the firm, its investment focus and its portfolio.
Commerce Ventures has invested in Nigerian companies including Smile ID, which provides identity verification and fraud prevention across African markets, Conduit, which supports cross border business payments using fiat and stablecoins, Checker, which offers an API for stablecoin liquidity and cross border payments and Rulebase, which automates financial compliance and QA. These companies reflect the firm’s focus on secure, compliant and scalable digital financial infrastructure.