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Since 2023, Commerce Ventures has backed 4 African startups across 5 disclosed funding rounds totaling $86.1M, most heavily in Nigeria and Cybersecurity.
Commerce Ventures is a venture capital firm that focuses on innovations across retail and financial services. The firm was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. According to its official materials, Commerce Ventures backs entrepreneurs building infrastructure and platforms that power the future of commerce. In Africa, Commerce Ventures has participated in early and growth stage financings from Seed through Series B. Based on disclosed investments, the firm has backed Rulebase at Seed stage, Conduit Pay at Series A, and Smile ID at Series B. These investments reflect a clear focus on financial compliance, fintech, and cybersecurity, with a geographic emphasis on Nigeria and Pan African opportunities. The firm reports that it has invested in more than 100 companies globally, including category leaders such as Bill.com, Marqeta, MX, Socure, Narvar, Forter, and Vestwell. Its African portfolio companies align with its broader thesis of supporting infrastructure for payments, identity verification, and compliant financial services, often alongside a diverse set of co investors that include global venture and growth equity firms.
Data updated · Jul 29, 2026
Commerce Ventures has backed 4 African startups across 5 disclosed funding rounds tracked on Liners, totaling $86.1M since 2023.
Mostly Seed: 2 of its 5 tracked rounds are at that stage, followed by Series B (2).
Commerce Ventures's tracked rounds are concentrated in Nigeria (5).
Its tracked rounds lean toward Cybersecurity (2), Crypto & Web3 (1), Legal and Compliance (1), and 1 more sector.
Commerce Ventures most often shares rounds with Costanoa Ventures (2 shared deals), Norrsken22 (2 shared deals), ValueStream Ventures (2 shared deals).
Commerce Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on innovations across retail and financial services. It was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Commerce Ventures has backed Smile ID, a Pan African identity verification and fraud prevention company, Conduit Pay, a Nigerian cross border business payments platform that uses fiat and stablecoins, and Rulebase, a Nigerian company that automates financial compliance and quality assurance.