How to raise angel investment in Nigeria (without a network)
You don’t need a pitch deck, a Stanford degree, or a cousin in venture capital. What you do need is clarity, traction, and a story that makes someone believe.
When Kunle built his first startup prototype in 2022, a simple budgeting tool for market traders, he wasn’t thinking about angel funding. He just wanted to see if people would use it. But within three months, he had 300 active users, dozens of WhatsApp messages with feature requests, and a big question looming over his head: How do I raise money to keep going?
He had no investor connections. No pitch deck. No accelerator name to drop. What he did have was momentum. And that’s what helped him land a ₦5 million cheque (around $3,000) from a local angel investor who discovered him through a community Slack group.
This is how many first cheques happen in Nigeria, not through flashy demo days, but through clarity, obsession, and signal.
Kelechi Edeh
So… what is angel funding, really?
Angel funding is typically the first outside money a startup raises. It comes from individuals, often experienced founders, professionals, or tech execs, who invest their personal cash into promising startups at a very early stage.
Unlike VCs, angels don’t need your revenue numbers or detailed five-year forecasts. What they’re betting on is you, your clarity, your insight, your speed, and whether there’s any early proof that people want what you’re building.
This early capital can range from ₦2 million to ₦20 million (~$1,300 to $13,000), and it’s often what gives founders enough runway to refine their minimum viable product (MVP), grow their user base, or apply to bigger programs like Techstars or YCombinator.
What makes angels say “yes”?
It’s rarely a deck that seals the deal. It’s belief. Most angels want to see:
- A real problem being solved
- A founder who deeply understands that problem
- Some form of traction—whether it’s a growing waitlist, WhatsApp feedback, or small pilot results
- A story that makes the opportunity feel urgent and inevitable
For Kunle, that story was simple: market women were already using his app to track cash flow. They weren’t tech-savvy. They didn’t care about UI. But they kept asking him for more features. “That told me something real was happening,” he said.
How to find angels (without an inside track)
If you’re not already plugged into the tech ecosystem, it’s easy to assume angels are unreachable. But Nigerian founders are finding them in unexpected ways:
- Online startup communities like BuildInPublic Nigeria, TechCircle Africa, and Founders Connect host chats where angels occasionally scout for interesting early-stage ideas.
- Slack groups and Telegram channels tied to accelerators (e.g. ARM Labs, Greenhouse, or Orange Corners) often have alumni or mentors who now write cheques.
- Twitter and LinkedIn, when used with clarity and consistency, can create unexpected inbound. One founder got a $5K offer after tweeting a before/after screenshot of a feature update.
Even cold outreach can work, if it’s done with thought. A short, clear message explaining what you’re building, who it’s for, and what early proof you’ve seen can go further than a long deck with no spark.
You don’t need traction. You need signal.
There’s a difference. You don’t have to be making money. But you do need something that makes an angel lean in. That could be:
- Feedback from 50 people who tried your tool
- A waitlist of 200 users after launching on X (prev. Twitter)
- A scrappy MVP that already solves a pain point for 5 paying customers
In other words, it has to feel like you’re not guessing anymore. You’re learning, listening, iterating, and you’re moving.
Kelechi Edeh
Conclusion
Angel funding in Nigeria doesn’t start with privilege. It starts with progress. You don’t need to win a pitch contest or go viral. If you can show that you’re solving a real problem, learning from real users, and building with urgency, your lack of a network won’t matter as much as you think. What opens doors isn’t who you know. It’s how clearly you know what you’re doing.
