Stears will get $3.3 million funding in the new investment. The funding involves Williams’ Serena Ventures, and was led by MaC Enterprise Capital. Others include Omidyar Group’s Luminate Fund, Melo 7 Tech Companions and Cascador.Stears will get $3.3 million funding in the new investment. The funding involves Williams’ Serena Ventures, and was led by MaC Enterprise Capital. Others include Omidyar Group’s Luminate Fund, Melo 7 Tech Companions and Cascador.
“One of the main reasons I invested in Stears is not because of my love and appreciation for Africa, but because Stears has strategically thought of how to increase the investment community on the continent,” Williams said in an emailed statement. Other participants in the round included Melo7 Tech Partners LLC, Cascador, Hoaq Club and return investor Luminate Fund of the Omidyar Group, according to co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Preston Ideh. Stears declined to provide valuation information.
Stears was launched in 2017 by four co-founders who met during secondary school at Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja, Nigeria, and at the London School of Economics and Imperial College in the UK.The company plans to use the new funding to expand its coverage geographically by establishing a presence in East and Southern Africa, Ideh said.