# Top 50 Software Angel Investors in Africa in October 2023 ## Tayo Oviosu - Type: Angel - Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Financial Services, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology Tayo is the Founder & Group CEO of Paga (www.paga.com), Nigeria’s leading mobile money service. Prior to Paga, Tayo was Vice-President at Travant Capital Partners, a private equity fund in West Africa. Prior to joining Travant, Tayo was a Manager, Corporate Development, at Cisco Systems in San Jose California. Tayo’s work at Paga has beenrecognized globally - in 2014 CNBC selected Tayo as the Entrepreneur of the Year West Africa, and in 2015 the African Leadership Network selected Paga as the outstanding growing company of the year in Africa. Tayo is also the co-founder of Kairos Angels, an angel investment club.Tayo earned his Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, cum laude, from the University of Southern California, and also has a Masters in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. ## Idris Ayodeji Bello - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Angel, Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: FinTech, Software, Financial Services The 'Afropreneur' (entrepreneur with an African focus), as he self-describes, Idris Ayodeji Bello is a Partner at LoftyInc Allied Partners Limited and co-founder of The Wennovation Hub, an innovation platform based in Nigeria, that has successfully accelerated the launch of several technology start-ups in social impact sectors. He isalso a Founding Partner at Loftyinc Capital Management, owners of the Afropreneurs Fund (I&II)The 'Afropreneur' (entrepreneur with an African focus), as he self-describes, Idris Bello is a Partner at LoftyInc Allied Partners Limited and co-founder of The Wennovation Hub, an innovation platform based in Nigeria, that has successfully accelerated the launch of several technology start-ups in social impact sectors. He is also a Founding Partner at Loftyinc Capital Management, owners of the Afropreneurs Fund (I&II)A first class honors graduate of Computer Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, he has an M.Sc in Computer Science & Data Mining from the University of Houston; an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Strategy from Rice University in Houston and an M.Sc in Global Health Science from the University of Oxford, where he was a 2011 recipient of The Lord Weidenfeld Scholarship for demonstrating remarkable potential as a future leader from an emerging economy.Idris spent the greater part of a decade working at Chevron Corporation and ExxonMobil USA, where he led several large upstream technology projects across the USA and Sub-Saharan Africa. Idris has also worked with the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative where he played a major role in the deployment and evaluation of Swaziland’s first mobile health patient appointment reminder system as part of the country’s National AIDS Program. Listed among CNN’s Top Ten African Technology Voices, he is a Singularity University Impact Fellow, Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance Associate, Clinton Global Initiative University Fellow, MIT Global Start-up Fellow, SAP Ashoka Global Changemakers Award Winner, Dell Technology Award Winner, StartingBloc Innovation Fellow and a Nigeria Leadership Initiative Future Leader.As a leader, Idris has mentored and catalyzed scores of contributors across the growing African landscape and is an angel investor and advisor to several African startups including Andela, Flutterwave, RelianceHMO, among others. He continues to devote his efforts to the development of innovation-driven, technology-enabled social enterprises that empower the underserved and develop transformative ideas to change lives on the African continent.He spends most of his time between Lagos, Cairo, or airport lounges. ## Olugbenga Agboola - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Internet Olugbenga Agboola is the Co-Founder and CEO of Flutterwave. He previously worked at Africa Fintech Foundry as a Senior Entrepreneur In Residence. Olugbenga Agboola attended MIT Sloan School of Management. ## Mato Perić - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, E-Commerce Mato invests in technology companies globally. His portfolio companies have raised over US$ 5 billion in capital, employ >15,000 people and have operations in 35 countries across six continents. ## Prosper Otemuyiwa - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Angel - Focus: FinTech, CRM, Telecommunications Prosper Otemuyiwa is a Co-founder of forLoop Africa. He attended Babcock University. ## Allen and Ollys International Limited - - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Convertible Note - Focus: FinTech, Insurance, Blockchain Allen and Ollys International Limited - ## Edmond Nonie - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Debt Financing - Focus: SaaS, Software, Construction Edmond Nonie ## Charles Delingpole - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Payments Charles Delingpole is Founder and CEO of ComplyAdvantage, a technology company focused on wiping out financial crime using Machine Learning. As CEO, Charles leads the product development and growth of the company. His passion for the issue came from his time as the MLRO of a previous startup he founded when he realized how inefficient processesaround money laundering are. Charles previously worked at The Student Room as a Founder and CEO. He attended the University of Cambridge and The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).Over 99% of money laundering is successful, ComplyAdvantage is working to stop it completely. Founded in 2014 with offices in London, New York, Singapore, and Cluj, ComplyAdvantage work with over 350 firms across 45 countries. Charles set up his first company, The Student Room Group, now the world’s largest student discussion forum when he was 16. After completing his MA in Politics at Trinity College Cambridge, and then an MSc in Management, Strategy, and Finance from the LSE, he became an associate at J.P. Morgan Cazenove. ## Shola Akinlade - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed - Focus: FinTech, Education, InsurTech Shola Akinlade is the Co-founder and CEO at Paystack. ## Andrew Vigneault - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, FinTech, Financial Services Andrew is a successful entrepreneur as well as investor and advisor to more than 100 early-stage startups across enterprise SaaS and fintech. He founded and served as CEO of ClearGraph (acquired by Tableau (NYSE: DATA)). Andrew is a top .5% contributor to Stanford StartX (2k+ entrepreneurs). Earlier in his career, he served multiple roles inventure and investment banking, and holds a B.S. in Finance, summa cum laude, from the Gabelli School of Business. ## Christian Angermayer - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Blockchain Christian Angermayer - Founder & CEO @ Apeiron Investment Group ## Cristina Santin - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: FinTech, Insurance, Blockchain Cristina Santin ## Jai Mahtani - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Credit, FinTech, InsurTech Jai Mahtani ## Ham Serunjogi - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Finance, Financial Services, Mobile Apps Ham Serunjogi is a co-founder and CEO at Chipper Cash. ## Wes Schwalje - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel - Focus: FinTech, Information Technology, Financial Services Operator at nexus of policy, tech, and dev, investor, advised 8 unicorns on MENAP entry/scale-up, support Big Tech / startups to get along with govt ## Christian Faes - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Finance Christian Faes is the co-founder and Exec Chair of LendInvest, which is marketplace platform for property finance, and one of the leading Fintech businesses in the UK. The business has raised well over £1 billion in debt and equity, from institutions such as Atomico, the European Investment Fund, Citibank, HSBC, and the National Australia Bank.Christian comes from a legal background having practised as a real estate lawyer in Australia (Allens Arthur Robinson), and then in the UK with Clifford Chance and Deutsche Bank.  In 2008, Christian co-founded the business with Ian Thomas, initially seeing an opportunity in the short term mortgage market.Christian is a keen advocate for the Fintech sector, and sits on the Government’s Fintech Delivery Panel; and founded and chairs the Digital Finance Forum. He is an active supporter and early investor in several startups, including Seedrs, Crowdcube and Onfido. ## Matthias Hilpert - Type: Angel - Location: Berlin, Berlin, Germany - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, SaaS, Information Technology Matthias Hilpert - CEO @ MH2 Capital ## Kola Aina - Type: Angel - Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Internet Kola Aina is an entrepreneur, technology operator and investor with vast experience working in Africa’s largest economic market. His prior entrepreneurial experience spans several sectors including venture capital, technology, media, agriculture, infrastructure, publishing and real estate. As an angel investor and while leading the early stageAfrican VC firm Ventures Platform. Venture Platform is a leading early stage African VC fund that provides founder friendly capital and support to early stage companies in a framework that is buoyed by corporate governance and hands-on support. Kola has lead investment in about 28 companies including Payments company; Paystack, Connectivity company; Tizeti, Healthcare company; MDaaS and the Agric-tech company; Thrive Agric.Kola, founded the enterprise technology company Emerging Platforms Limited, 9 years ago, quickly growing it to become one of the leading technology service delivery companies and leaders in the e-learning space in West Africa providing services to over 100,000 students. Emerging Platforms Limited is a software and technology firm that specializes in developing innovative technology solutions in education, national security and enterprise sectors.Prior to focusing on full time entrepreneurship, Kola worked in corporate finance, administration, corporate turn-around and strategy. He led strategy and finance for one of the largest publishing companies in Nigeria up till 2009. Before that he worked in corporate finance proving financial analysis at Fifth Third Bank in the USA.Kola is a leader in the African startup and investing ecosystem, a Ted speaker and volunteers his time advising founders, speaking at events and serves on the Presidential Committee for Job Creation and Youth Employment as well as the Private Sector Advisory Group to the Presidency on Creativity and Technology. Kola studied Electrical Engineering and then secured a Master in Business Administration degree with a specialization in Finance from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He has received further education from Berkley University, Harvard University and the Lagos Business School. ## Sudeep Ramnani - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Credit, FinTech, InsurTech Sudeep Ramnani is the Founder and CEO of Sportybet. SportyBet is an international sports betting and real-money gaming operator that delivers an omni-channel entertainment experience in regulated emerging markets (www.sportybet.com). Sudeep is also an investor in fintech and mobile payments and an advocate of the growing African internet ecosystem.Sudeep will be discussing the challenge of changing customer betting patterns alongside other innovative leaders in the sports betting industry. His insights into the industry's toughest topics will be truly beneficial to anyone who attends the Sports Betting West Africa Summit. ## Edward Lando - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Health Care Edward Lando is the Managing Partner at Pareto Holdings. ## Yossi Hasson - Type: Angel - Location: Cape Town, NA - South Africa, South Africa - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Financial Services, Blockchain, Payments Yossi Hasson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Metaversal and a Venture Partner at 2048 Ventures. He is also a Non-Executive Director of WeThinkCode_. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director of Techstars. He attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the University of Pretoria/Universiteit van Pretoria. ## Ayodeji Adewunmi - Type: Angel - Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Apps, Gaming, Mobile Ayodeji Adewunmi is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Dot. He previously worked at GOKADA as a President & Co-CEO. Ayodeji Adewunmi attended Obafemi Awolowo University. ## Richard Aseme - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: FinTech, Credit, InsurTech Richard Aseme is the VP, International Marketing and Distribution, EMEA at Paramount Pictures. He attended Oxford University (Jesus College) oct 1996 - June 2000. ## Babs Ogundeyi - Type: Angel - Location: Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Finance Cofounder and CEO of Kuda ## Nadav Ben-Chanoch - Type: Angel - Location: Miami, Florida, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Health Care Nadav Ben-Chanoch - Partner @ Pareto Holdings ## Sandeep Nailwal - Type: Angel - Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Financial Services Sandeep Nailwal is the Co-Founder of Polygon. He is a former Co-Founder and CEO of Scopeweaver. He attended the National Institute of Industrial Engineering. ## Ire Aderinokun - Type: Angel - Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Ticketing, Mobile Apps Ire Aderinokun - Co-Founder , COO & VP of Engineering @ Buycoins ## Leonard Stiegeler - Type: Angel - Location: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Credit Leonard Stiegeler is the Founder of Pulse, the leading innovative media company in Africa. He is backing & investing in media-/art-/technology- & -enabled ventures/assets. Some of his interests include Business Insider Africa, Art News Africa and Digital News Africa. Prior, he was the General Manager of Swiss Ringier AfricaAG since 2016 – responsible for buiding up the group's business on the continent. Ringier is today active in 8 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and through its ROAM-holding leads brands such as Jobberman, Cheki, Private Property, BuyRentKenya, Pigiame, ZoomTanzania, and many more. Prior to his work with Ringier since 2013, Leo helped to establish Rocket Internet and other German investors in Africa. Leo is originally from Germany and has been based in different African countries since 2011. ## Selma Ribica - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Payments, Software, Health Care Selma Ribica ## Wassim Jouini - Type: Angel - Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Apps, Software, Communities Wassim Jouini is a Co-Founder at Proservy. He attended CentraleSupélec. ## Shakir Merali - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series C - Focus: Credit, FinTech, Lending Shakir Merali ## Aaron Fu - Type: Angel - Location: Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Financial Services, Apps, Software Aaron has 10+ years of global experience building, scaling and investing in technology products in corporate and startup environments. He has co-founded both B2B & B2C businesses, in Africa - he has led seed stage equity investments in 20+ startups (totaling $2m+), driven the exit of 3 startups in Africa, he also sits on the board of ofstartups ranging from AgriTech to Transport and has worked with 100s through partners like Visa, MTN, Airbus, Société Générale and the World Bank.Prior to the Catalyst Fund, he was the Managing Director of MEST, Africa’s Largest Pre-Seed Incubator, and Managing Partner for Africa at Nest.vc, a Hong Kong based fund, which he joined after a career in financial services. ## Michael Leeman - Type: Angel - Location: San Diego, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel, Seed - Focus: Apps, Publishing, Software Michael is the San Diego based Senior VP Business Development for Cognician, a self coaching and behavior change platform based in San Francisco. He is also a shareholder and director. Michael also has array of investments in and advisory roles with a number of other start ups, including Gyft, Yola, ChessCube and Skyrove. ## Brian Corrigan - Type: Angel - Location: Saratoga Springs, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Seed, Angel - Focus: Gaming, Internet, SaaS Brian Corrigan is the VP and Head of Americas at PUBG Corporation. He attended Clarkson University and the University at Albany, SUNY. (This website is horribly out of date, probably best to hit my website or LinkedIn) ## Piers Kicks - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Blockchain, Gaming, Video Games Investing in crypto x gaming at BITKRAFT & Delphi Digital.Piers acquired his first bitcoin at 13 years old in exchange for virtual currency in a video game. After reaching 69 global in Rainbow Six Siege (over 50 million players), being a first generation virtual reality user, and growing up with crypto, he leverages his unique insight intothe undercurrents of the web to cross the digital divide.Computer science and philosophy background, entrepreneurial with a global digital asset network.Hunting asymmetric crypto/venture investment opportunities in early stage projects that seek to advance and support the emergence of synthetic reality. ## George Godula - Type: Angel - Location: Shanghai, Shanghai, China - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Health Care, Information Technology, Mobile Cross-border angel / early stage investor with portfolio of 40+ startup companies and as of currently 4 exits, 4 unicorns & counting.George invests in companies helping people lead a longer, healthier and happier life - keywords sustainability, ESG, impact investing. In addition to investing he likes to be hands-on in hisportfoliocompanies, either helping China / SEA based teams to internationalize or global teams to break into China / SEA or support them in outsourcing, sourcing and manufacturing. Typically angel, seed and occasional Series A stage investments. Industry focus and selected startups in his portfolio: - E-Commerce e.g. Web2Asia, Grana, Mercato - SaaS e.g. Jimdo, Blush, Anduin Transactions - Marketplaces / crowdfunding Republic.co - Education / Training e.g. Vantage Point, Dexter, - IoT e.g. Mila, Cafe-X, Lyte charging, The Light Phone, Density.io - Fitness e.g. FitXR, Trainersvault, Overhand Fitness, Salut, Guavapass (exit via sale to ClassPass) - Health / Nutrition e.g. NutriSense, Blue Mesa Health (exit via sale to Virgin), Compass Therapeutics (exit via IPO) - Insurtech e.g. The Care Voice - Medtech / Biotech e.g. Life Biosciences, Sequencing.com, MycoWorks - Sustainability / Infrastructure e.g. Blokable, U.S. Bitcoin Corp, Hardt Hyperloop - Deep tech / frontier tech e.g. Rain Neuromorphics, ZaiNar, Massive, Protocol Labs (Filecoin) - On-demand / sharing economy e.g. Yassir, Truck it in, misterbnb, Delivery Hero Austria & China (exit via sale / IPO) ## Jesper Drescher - Type: Angel - Location: Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: SaaS, Gaming, Content Jesper Drescher ## Do Kwon - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, FinTech Do Kwon is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Terraform Labs. Do Kwon is the Founder & CEO at Terraform Labs . Do Kwon attended Stanford University. ## Vinny Lingham - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Blockchain, Internet, Cryptocurrency Vinny Lingham is Co-Founder & CEO at Civic. He was the founder and CEO of Gyft, a mobile gift card app that allows customers to buy, store, send and redeem gift cards conveniently from their mobile device. He is also the founder of Yola.com, a web development and hosting company that enables users without prior programming knowledge to developwebsites. Vinny is the recipient of numerous awards, including Top Young ICT Entrepreneur in Africa (2006) and was also a finalist for Men’s Health Best Man (2009) and ICT Personality of the Year in South Africa (2008). He also previously founded Clicks2Customers, which also won the Top Technology Company award in South Africa in 2006. He has previously served on marketing advisory boards for Nasdaq listed Valueclick and Yahoo, was also selected as an Endeavor “High Impact Entrepreneur” in 2006. Vinny studied a B.Com (Information Systems) at the University of Cape Town. ## Tom Berckt - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel - Focus: Apps, Events, Printing Tom is currently a commercial executive at Clicks2customers.com, a global Search Engine Marketing company. His background is in (bio-) engineering but he has been involved in online companies for the past 10 years. Besides working at Clicks2customers, Tom is a part time lecturer at TSIBA (http://www.tsiba.org.za/) a South AfricanNGO providing tertiary education to economically disadvantaged children. He is also an angel investor in a number is technology startups and is an active member of the Silicon Cape initiative (www.siliconcape.com) ## Gbite Oduneye - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Financial Exchanges Gbite Oduneye is the Founder and Managing Partner of ODBA. He attended UWE Bristol and Said Business School, University of Oxford. ## Khaled Ben Jilani - Type: Angel - Location: Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel, Series A - Focus: Apps, EdTech, Software Khaled Ben Jilani is a Senior Partner and a member of the ExCom of AfricInvest. He oversees investments early growth investments in Africa. ## Christian Jantzen - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel - Focus: Software, SaaS, Information Technology Danish angel investor, based in London. ## Joachim Lecrivain - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series C, Series A - Focus: Cryptocurrency, Marketplace, Blockchain Joachim Lecrivain ## Iyinoluwa Aboyeji - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Information Technology, FinTech, B2B Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is the Founder and former CEO of HOF portfolio company Flutterwave, a business building payments technology and infrastructure to connect Africa to the global economy. Under his leadership, the company has become one of the fastest growing payments technology businesses of all-time, processing over $2B across over 50Mtransactions, and attracted significant investment from experienced players in the space, including Y Combinator (investors in Stripe), Greycroft (investors in Braintree), Greenvisor Capital (led by the Former CEO of Visa), and Mastercard.Previously, Iyinoluwa Co-Founded Andela, Africa's largest engineering organization with over 1000 software engineers that has received investment from Mark Zuckerberg and Google Ventures.Iyinoluwa holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Waterloo, and sits on the board of several institutions including Paris’ Share Africa Project, Rainbow Educational Services Limited, and Filmo Realty. He served as the Deputy Director General for Madam Oby Ezekwesili’s 2019 Presidential Campaign, is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, and a member of Nigeria's Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council. ## Jon Oringer - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Health Care Jon Oringer is the founder and chairman of Shutterstock. ## Nasir Jones - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: E-Commerce, Internet, Software Nas, byname of Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, also called Nasty Nas, (born September 14, 1973, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.), American rapper and songwriter who became a dominant voice in 1990s East Coast hip-hop. Nas built a reputation as an expressive chronicler of inner-city street life.Nasir Jones, the son of a jazz musician, grew up in public housingin Queens, New York. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade and searched for a creative outlet, finally settling on hip-hop. His breakthrough came in 1992, when his song “Half Time” (credited to Nasty Nas) appeared on the sound track to the film Zebrahead. Columbia Records soon signed him to a contract. His debut recording as Nas, Illmatic (1994), drew widespread acclaim for its poetic narration of hard-edged inner-city life.The more pop-oriented approach of It Was Written (1996) helped that album reach an even wider audience than its predecessor but ignited a recurring tension in Nas’s career between the appetite of the pop audience and the demands of hip-hop purists. He maintained his commercial appeal with I Am... (1999), although by that time he had also become embroiled in a public feud with fellow rapper Jay-Z over which of the two was the preeminent voice in East Coast hip-hop. The schism inspired Stillmatic (2001), which many fans considered a return to form. The two rappers publicly settled their differences in 2005, and shortly thereafter Nas signed with Def Jam, of which Jay-Z was president at the time.Nas’s penchant for provocation marked Hip Hop Is Dead (2006) and an untitled follow-up (2008), while Life Is Good (2012) struck an introspective tone. He also notably collaborated with reggae musician Damian Marley (the youngest son of Bob Marley) on the album Distant Relatives (2010).Nas also made occasional film appearances, notably in Belly (1998), a crime drama in which he starred opposite rapper DMX, and Black Nativity (2013), an adaptation of Langston Hughes’s gospel play. ## Ugochukwu Aronu - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Pre-Seed - Focus: Drones, Energy, Delivery Ugochukwu Aronu is the Co-Founder And CEO of Xend. ## Omar Darwazah - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Finance Omar is a Managing Director, General Partner, and CFO at AAF Management Ltd. (AAF), an early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 2016. Over the past 5 years, Omar has invested in over 120 venture-backed startups in the US, Europe, and MENA region across a multitude of different sectors alongside over 800 blue-chip venture capital firms,corporate venture arms as well as notable incubators and accelerators. Omar has also deployed capital to 18 emerging managers globally. His fund performance is consistently ranked in the top decile in terms of DPI and TVPI respectively benchmarked on Cambridge Associates’ data on over 1500 US VC Funds. Previously, Omar spent 10 years of his career with OCI N.V. in Cairo and New York focusing on investor relations, strategy, and corporate finance where he worked on over $35 billion worth of corporate transactions. Prior to that, Omar was with Deloitte Tax LLP in Chicago and Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Finance team in London.Omar also founded and successfully exited his own startup, Premier Foods SAE, which managed two gourmet fast food brands in Egypt. Omar previously advised Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ corporate venture arm Hikma Ventures on its digital healthcare investments Omar is also an angel investor in over 20 tech companies including Andela, Blockstack, BitOasis, Dayra, Freterium, Halan, FiscalNote, Thndr, and Ziina. Omar sits on the Board of the Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA) and the Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA). He is also a mentor to the NYU Steinhardt EdTech Accelerator, an advisor to Yale University’s Center for Digital Health and Innovation, and a judge at the Wharton School’s Venture Lab. In aggregate, Omar has over 16 years of international experience in corporate finance, corporate communications, management consulting, strategy, investor relations, and venture capital.Omar is an avid traveler and has visited 87 countries around the world. He also has an interest in film production and has been an Executive Producer on several short feature films including Baby Mine (2017) and Lab Rat (2018).Omar holds a BA in Economics and Political Science with Honors from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He was named as one of Wharton’s 40 under 40 in 2017 and one of the Top 100 the University of Chicago Alumni in Tech in 2021. ## Maijid Moujaled - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Gaming, Mobile, FinTech Maijid Moujaled is a co-founder and president at Chipper Cash. # About Shizune Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features: - 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others) - Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data - Updated daily from public funding news - CSV and Excel export The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co