GOODsoil VC, the Ghana-based early-stage venture capital firm, has fully deployed its flagship $67.5m fund and will not be raising a follow-on vehicle, effectively closing one of Ghana’s most visible VC operations.
The announcement was made by Charmaine Hayden, co-founder and managing partner at GOODsoil VC, who described the move as the closing of a chapter and the start of a new one.
Founded in 2017, GOODsoil VC emerged with an explicit focus on providing early-stage capital to African tech and tech-enabled startups, with particular emphasis on supporting minority founders. The firm’s founding team — comprising Hayden, Orla Enright, Ashley Thompson-MacCarthy, and Richard Mensah — set itself apart in the region’s VC landscape, with 50% of its leadership female and 75% Black, positioning itself as a values-driven investor aiming to catalyse Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystems.
In 2020, GOODsoil VC announced its $67.5m fund with ambitions to fund over 50 startups across Africa. Since then, it has backed a number of startups that have become prominent players, including Zeepay, a cross-border payments company; BezoMoney, a digital bank targeting the unbanked; Zuberi, a wage access platform; and BetPawa, an online sports betting platform with pan-African reach.
While GOODsoil has received industry recognition — including being named Venture Company of the Year at the 2022 Africa Startup Ecosystem Builders Awards — the decision not to raise a subsequent fund signals both the completion of its initial mandate and an inflection point in Ghana’s early-stage investment scene. Hayden stated that some of the fund’s portfolio companies are still early in their journeys, but that she was proud of the “strategic bets” made.
As GOODsoil winds down its fund management operations, Hayden says she plans to take time to reflect before making her next move, stating that she is prioritising alignment and meaningful challenges over speed or title. She indicated openness to advisory and board roles, particularly with organisations tackling international expansion or public-private investment strategies.
The closure of GOODsoil comes amid a wider conversation in Africa’s venture capital ecosystem about fund sustainability, manager incentives, and the growing role of local capital in startup financing. While Ghana has seen increased tech activity, much of the early-stage capital in recent years has come from pan-African or international VCs.
GOODsoil’s winding down also coincides with growing competition in early-stage African venture, as new funds emerge with sector-specific or geography-focused strategies, and founders increasingly look for investors that can provide more than just capital.
With the deployment of its fund now complete, the next chapter for Hayden and her fellow founders remains to be written — one that may still shape Africa’s entrepreneurial story, albeit from a different vantage point.