Innovation firm Magna Collective matched 26 Nigerian startups with 16 venture investors in 61 pre-arranged one-to-one meetings at an Investor Connection Drive held in Lagos on October 27.
The event, supported by Google for Startups, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation, paired founders and investors whose preferred stages, cheque sizes and sectors matched. Participants approved their matches in advance, replacing unsolicited introductions with targeted discussions.
The drive comes as Nigeria’s startup funding recovers but stays concentrated. Data from Africa: The Big Deal cited in reports show Nigerian startups raised 635 million dollars in the first nine months of 2026, more than double the same period of 2025 and more than any other African country, but only 77 startups raised at least 100,000 dollars, and a single 250-million-dollar Moove deal accounted for almost 40 per cent of the total.
Kelvin Umechukwu, co-founder of commerce platform Bumpa, who met four investors in one afternoon, said pre-shared documents made the meetings “more impactful, and direct”. Lexi Novitske, general partner at Norrsken22, said the format “helped investors identify potential investment opportunities more efficiently”.
The participating startups work across financial technology, healthcare, artificial intelligence, logistics, energy, agriculture and education. More than two-thirds have women in leadership positions, and eleven are alumni of Google programmes including the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa and the Black Founders Fund.
Sources: The Nation; BusinessDay
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