FirstCheck Africa

FirstCheck Africa is a pre-seed venture firm explicitly built around closing the gender funding gap on the African continent by writing first cheques to women founders. Headquartered in Lagos, the firm operates with sub-$250k cheque sizes and has built a meaningful pipeline in women’s and reproductive health alongside broader digital health and consumer tech. For founders, FirstCheck is the right partner if you are a woman founder building a digital health, women’s health, or reproductive health platform in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, or another large African market, and you need a credible first institutional cheque to anchor a round. Male-founded teams, US-only plays, and capital-intensive clinical assets should not approach. The cleanest entry path is via the firm’s open-application channels, founder communities like Africa Women in Tech, or warm introductions from prior FirstCheck portfolio founders. In the pitch, lead with the founder story, clinical or commercial traction signals, regulatory awareness, and a credible $1-3M seed round plan that names likely follow-on investors. Caveats: FirstCheck’s cheque size is small and is not designed to lead a full seed round on its own; founders should plan to syndicate with larger Africa-focused funds (Norrsken22, EchoVC, Enza, HealthCap) for the rest of the round. The firm’s mission orientation does not preclude commercial rigor, and partners will probe unit economics and scalability seriously. AI focus is a stated interest but not a primary filter, so AI-heavy founders should expect general rather than deep technical diligence. Confirm pacing and current vintage in initial conversations, since the fund’s deployment cadence varies year to year.