Kuramo Capital lands NGN 48B first close for Africa fund from Nigerian pensions
What's the deal? Kuramo CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Management, a sub-Saharan Africa-focused investment firm, has reached the first close of its Kuramo Africa Opportunity Fund IV (KAOF IV), securing NGN 48 billion (about $35 million). The entire pool came from five Nigerian Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
What's the endgame? KAOF IV targets high-growth private equity and venture opportunities. Most capital will back scalable businesses in Nigeria — across tech-enabled services, financial inclusion, consumer goods, and infrastructure-adjacent sectors — with a selective portion deployed across the wider sub-Saharan region.
Why now? The raise reflects an evolving regulatory landscape shaped by Nigeria's National Pension Commission (PenCom). PenCom guidelines have encouraged local pension funds to diversify away from fixed-income securities into alternative assets like private equity and infrastructure.
Founder and chief executive officer Wale AdeosunDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → called the close "an important milestone" that "reflects the confidence the pension funds have placed in our team." He added that the firm remains committed to "deploying capital with discipline, creating value through active ownership, and generating attractive risk-adjusted returns."
The signal: By anchoring the fund with local institutional money, Kuramo aims to prove the viability of local-currency fundraising for long-term private market investments in West Africa. That would reduce the region's reliance on foreign development finance institutions and global allocators.
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Image credit: Center for International Private Enterprise
