If your question is not answered here, email management@adavelfund.com with the subject line 'Founder FAQ'.
ADAVEL Fund is an independent private capital platform that invests in Nigeria's most promising grassroot entrepreneurs. We combine equity investment with Revenue-Based Financing (RBF) to back 3–5 companies per cohort. We are not a loan provider, an accelerator, or a bank. We are a long-term investment partner.
Any entrepreneur operating a business in Nigeria can apply. You do not need to be based in Lagos or have raised money before. We look for businesses with a real product or service, evidence of customer demand, and a founder committed to building long-term.
Series A (VC-style) is for founders at pre-revenue to ₦250,000+/month. Series B (PE-style) is for businesses generating ₦1,000,000+/month consistently. If unsure, describe your situation and we will advise.
You do not need a CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission) certificate to apply. However, registration will be required before investment is disbursed. We can assist with the registration process as part of our pre-investment support.
Yes — and we encourage it. Strong co-founding teams score higher on the Team Quality dimension because complementary skills reduce execution risk.
Yes. Disclose all existing investors, terms, and equity agreements on your application. We will assess compatibility with ADAVEL's terms.
Applications are submitted through the ADAVEL platform at adavelfund.com. The form has six sections: Founder Profile, The Business, Traction & Revenue, Financials & The Ask, Vision & Alignment, and Document Uploads. Progress is autosaved throughout.
A prepared founder should complete the application in under 30 minutes. Have your last three months of financial statements and your pitch deck ready before you begin.
No. Core identity fields and key business information are required. Many supporting fields — such as LinkedIn URL, previous ventures, and optional documents — are recommended but not mandatory. The platform will indicate which fields must be completed before you can proceed.
Required: Pitch deck (PDF, max 4MB). Recommended: financial statements (last 3 months), CV/resume of founders. Optional: CAC certificate, financial model, product demo link, press coverage. The platform will not block submission if recommended documents are missing — only required documents must be present.
Yes. The platform autosaves every 30 seconds. Log out and return to your saved progress at any time before the deadline.
You receive an email confirmation with your reference number (format: ADV-2026-XXXX) within 60 seconds. The ADAVEL team reviews your application and you will hear back within 4 weeks of the deadline.
RBF is a repayment structure where you repay ADAVEL from a percentage of your monthly revenue — not through fixed instalments. You repay 2× the invested amount over a maximum of 50 months. In a slow month you pay less; in a strong month you pay more. There is no interest, no compounding, and no penalty for early repayment. Example: if we invest ₦1M, you repay ₦2M total from monthly revenue over up to 50 months.
Series A: up to ₦1,000,000 per company. Series B: from ₦1,000,000 per company. The exact amount is negotiated based on your use of funds and the panel's assessment.
Up to 25%, held as security for the RBF obligation. Once you complete repayment of 2× the invested amount, the equity is signed off and returned to you at no additional cost.
Yes. Standard release (after RBF is fully repaid) → automatic, free, no negotiation needed.
Your RBF payment scales with actual revenue — low revenue means a lower payment. If you have a genuine period of zero revenue, you owe zero for that month. We work with portfolio companies through difficult periods. In an instance where the Founder is unable to complete the 2x RBF payments within the window provided, necessary arrangements may be made between the Fund and the Founder to allow for assets to be liquidated to cover outstanding payments.
Mismanagement is defined as: fraud or falsified reporting; misuse of invested capital; three or more consecutive missed monthly reports; or material misrepresentation in your application. Any of these triggers a legal recovery process. Normal business difficulty is not mismanagement.
Applications are scored using a five-dimension weighted rubric (Team 25%, Market 20%, Product 20%, Traction 25%, Financials 10%). The top 20 are shortlisted. Shortlisted founders have a 30-minute virtual interview. Finalists attend Pitch Day. The top 3–5 receive negotiated term sheets.
Applications: open now through 30 November 2026. Screening: November 2026. Interviews: December 2026. Pitch Day: January 2027. Funding: January 2027.
Yes. Many strong businesses are not funded in their first cycle. We encourage reapplication and track returning applicants.
For 50 months: monthly mentorship sessions, extended network access, live portfolio dashboard, legal and formal assistance, and ongoing technical and operational support.
Between the 1st and 10th of each month, submit a monthly update covering revenue, expenses, customers, churn, team size, highlights, challenges, and goals. This data feeds your RBF repayment calculation and the ADAVEL team's portfolio digest.
Missing a single report triggers a reminder. Three or more consecutive missed reports constitutes mismanagement and triggers a legal process. Monthly reporting is a contractual obligation.
The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout ADAVEL Fund's documents and platform.
| Abbreviation | Full Term & Meaning |
|---|---|
| RBF | Revenue-Based Financing — a repayment structure where a business repays an investor from a fixed percentage of its monthly revenue, rather than through fixed instalments. ADAVEL uses a 2× RBF multiple over a maximum of 50 months. |
| VC | Venture Capital — early-stage equity investment in high-growth startups. ADAVEL's Series A track follows a VC-style model. |
| PE | Private Equity — structured investment in established, cash-flow-positive businesses. ADAVEL's Series B track follows a PE-style model. |
| LP | Limited Partner — an investor who commits capital to a fund but is not involved in day-to-day management. LPs receive returns from the fund's portfolio performance. |
| GP | General Partner — the fund manager who makes investment decisions and manages the fund on behalf of LPs. ADAVEL's Fund Manager is the GP. |
| CAC | Corporate Affairs Commission — Nigeria's business registration authority. A CAC certificate confirms a business is legally registered in Nigeria. |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicator — a measurable value that tracks how effectively a business is achieving its objectives. ADAVEL portfolio companies submit KPIs monthly. |
| MoM | Month-over-Month — a comparison of a metric (e.g. revenue) in one month versus the previous month, expressed as a percentage change. |
| ESG | Environmental, Social, and Governance — a framework for assessing a business's impact beyond financial performance. Relevant to ADAVEL's Series B track. |
| NDA | Non-Disclosure Agreement — a legal contract that prevents a party from sharing confidential information with third parties. Investors must sign an NDA before accessing founder pitch materials. |
| NGN / ₦ | Nigerian Naira — the official currency of Nigeria. All ADAVEL investment figures are denominated in NGN. |
| MVP | Minimum Viable Product — the simplest version of a product that can be released to test a hypothesis with early customers. |
| SME | Small and Medium-sized Enterprise — businesses that fall below certain thresholds for revenue, assets, or number of employees. The primary target of ADAVEL Fund. |