Enza Capital Launches Dedicated Fund for AI Startups in Africa

In Short

Enza Capital has launched a dedicated fund focused on artificial intelligence (AI) startups and AI-enabled startups in Africa.

What Happened

Enza Capital says it launched the AI-focused fund after investing in tech startups across Africa for seven years.

Mike Mompi, Enza’s managing partner, said AI is “the most consequential technology shift in a generation” and that it “needs to be harnessed to create value for a broad set of people.” He said investing in AI in Africa now is “an incredible opportunity and even a responsibility.”

Enza said its name comes from a Zulu word meaning “to build”, “to make” and “to create.” The firm said it has raised $58 million across its first two funds. It also said it has made 75 investments across 47 companies in nine African countries.

Enza said Mike Mompi started the firm in 2019 with two co-founders. It said Sir John Lazar ran Metaswitch, a communications software company backed by Sequoia Capital and Francisco Partners, which Microsoft bought in 2020. It also said David Cohen worked at Goldman Sachs in London before spending about two decades as a partner at Farallon Capital.

Enza said AI took about 60% of global venture investment in 2025 and just over 5% in Africa. The firm said it does not expect African startups to compete with frontier models (the largest, most expensive AI models) because the capital required is too large. Instead, it is betting on companies that adapt AI to African conditions.

Examples Enza gave include voice tools that understand Pidgin and code-switching for customers who cannot read, smaller models trained on local data, and computing that works where connectivity is patchy. Enza calls this the “constraint advantage”, the idea that products built for Africa’s limits can also work beyond the continent.

Why It Matters

A dedicated AI fund signals that some Africa-focused investors think venture capital on the continent is maturing, and that specialist funds can find and support the best companies more effectively.

Enza’s emphasis on local language voice tools, local data, and unreliable connectivity also points to where it expects African AI startups to stand out, by building for real constraints rather than trying to match the largest global models.