Talstack, a platform for employee growth and development on a mission to power Africa’s workforce, has announced its pre-seed round, backed by a roster of leading investors.
Founded by Seni Sulyman and Kayode Oyewole, Talstack was born from the fundamental belief that Africa’s most significant opportunity over the next decade will come from enabling African businesses to compete on a global level by investing massively in talent growth and development.
Talstack is building an all-in-one platform that enables businesses to upskill their employees with tools, content, courses and insights from Africa’s best professionals and entrepreneurs.
To actualise this vision, the company has secured $850,000 in pre-seed funding from Ventures Platform, TLcom, Voltron Capital, Golden Palm Investments and a syndicate constituting experienced operators and angel investors.
Speaking on the investment, Kola Aina, founding partner of Ventures Platform said: “The decision to invest in Talstack was driven by its timely and innovative solution to helping Africa’s businesses level up to compete globally.
“With half of all employees globally needing to upskill or reskill by 2025, Talstack’s comprehensive learning platform is well-positioned to address this critical challenge. We believe in Talstack’s mission and the strong leadership of its founders.”
He added that “Kayode Oyewole and Seni Sulyman are top performers that we know well as long-standing members of the Ventures Platform family. We have full faith in their ability to drive Talstack’s success and are honoured to stand beside them in this journey as we enable Africa’s businesses to compete on the global stage.”
Eloho Omame, Partner at TLcom Capital, adds: “As a complement to our core strategy of Seed and Series A investment in Africa, TLcom invests selectively in pre-seed companies led by founders of the highest calibre, who combine deep market knowledge with proven operating track records. We’re proud to welcome Talstack as one such investment and the first out of our TIDE Africa Fund II.
“In Seni and Kayode, we’re excited about a co-founder duo that combines several attractive attributes, including great founder-market fit and highly complementary experiences as leaders at Andela and Ventures Platform.
“Talstack is building a differentiated talent development proposition, and we look forward to supporting the company’s journey.”
Talstack is currently operating a paid closed pilot with a group of high-growth companies as it develops a robust course catalogue addressing the most sought-after cross-functional and domain skills and competencies, The company plans to open access to a broader set of employers in the second half of 2023.
