Stears is a Lagos‑headquartered financial data and market‑intelligence company that builds subscription data products and research to help global funds, corporates and development organisations invest in Africa’s private markets and economies.[2][5]
High-Level Overview
- Mission: Stears positions itself as “Africa’s most comprehensive financial database and source of market intelligence” for global funds and corporates investing in Africa, offering data, forecasts and bespoke research to improve investment and policy decisions.[5][1]
- Investment philosophy (for an investment firm framing): Stears is not an investor but a data provider whose product philosophy emphasizes subscription access to clean, comparable financial and macroeconomic data and expert analysis tailored to capital allocators and corporates focused on Africa.[5][1]
- Key sectors: Stears serves financial services, global corporates, professional services, development finance institutions and governments, and focuses on private markets, macroeconomic and industry data relevant to these sectors.[1][2]
- Impact on the startup ecosystem: By aggregating private‑market data, publishing analyses and providing bespoke country and market intelligence, Stears reduces information frictions for investors and advisers operating in African markets, which supports dealmaking, market entry and more informed capital allocation across the region.[2][1]
For a portfolio company (product snapshot)
- What product it builds: Stears builds subscription data products, macroeconomic forecasts, industry and consumer indices, and bespoke research/briefings through its Stears Intelligence offering and related services.[1][2][5]
- Who it serves: Its customers are global asset managers, private‑equity and venture investors, corporates, DFIs (development finance institutions) and policy organisations operating or investing in Africa.[1][2]
- What problem it solves: It addresses the scarcity and inconsistency of comparable financial and market data on African private markets and economies, helping analysts and portfolio managers make evidence‑based decisions.[2][5]
- Growth momentum: Founded in 2017, Stears has grown from a media publication into a subscription data and intelligence business and raised institutional funding including a $3.3M round in 2022 from backers such as MaC Venture Capital and Serena Ventures, signalling growing traction with global investors.[2][1]
Origin Story
- Founding year and founders: Stears was founded in 2017 by Preston Ideh, Abdul Abdulrahim, Foluso Ogunlana and Michael Famoroti, who met while studying in the UK (London School of Economics and Imperial College / Oxford connections are referenced in profiles).[2][3]
- How the idea emerged: The founders started as a business publication (Stears Business) after recognising how difficult it was to access reliable data and analysis on Nigeria and broader African markets; they then evolved the model toward building subscription‑grade data and intelligence for professional investors.[2][3]
- Early traction / pivotal moments: Early bespoke research engagements for organisations such as the UNDP and government or donor agencies helped validate the research product, and the company’s 2022 $3.3M funding round from institutional backers marked a step up in commercialization and international expansion.[2][1]
Core Differentiators
- Data breadth and Africa focus: Stears emphasizes a continent‑specific, private‑market and macro dataset tailored to investors in Africa rather than generalist global data providers.[5][1]
- Integrated research + data product: It combines curated datasets, indices and forecasts with bespoke analyst briefings and country‑entry research, offering both raw data and actionable insight.[2][5]
- Credibility with institutional clients: Contracts and bespoke work for international organisations and DFIs, plus institutional venture backing, support its credibility with global capital allocators.[2][1]
- Local presence with global reach: Operating from Lagos (and with presence in Abuja and London) allows local data collection and client access to international markets simultaneously.[2][5]
Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
- Trend alignment: Stears rides the growing trend of data‑driven investing and the rising interest of global capital into African private markets, where quality market intelligence is a constraint on deal flow and pricing.[1][2]
- Timing: As more global funds and corporates allocate capital to Africa, demand for standardized datasets, comparable metrics and localised macro forecasts strengthens Stears’s value proposition.[1][2]
- Market forces in their favor: Increasing private capital, expanded venture activity, and donor/DFI emphasis on measurable outcomes create demand for dependable data and indices that Stears supplies.[1][2]
- Influence: By lowering information frictions, Stears helps accelerate deal discovery, valuation benchmarking and policy analysis, indirectly shaping investment patterns and enabling more sophisticated market participants to enter African markets.[2][1]
Quick Take & Future Outlook
- What’s next: Expect continued productization of datasets (deeper private‑market coverage, additional indices and tools for portfolio managers), expanded enterprise subscriptions, and deeper integrations with investor workflows as Stears leverages recent funding to scale.[1][5]
- Trends that will shape them: Greater allocation to African private markets, demand for ESG/impact‑linked data, and automation of investment due diligence will increase demand for structured regional data and analyst support.[1][2]
- How their influence may evolve: If Stears sustains data quality and expands coverage across more African countries and asset classes, it can become a standard market‑intelligence layer for Africa‑focused investors, improving pricing transparency and reducing entry costs for international capital.[5][1]
Quick take: Stears has shifted from a regional business publication into a specialized data and intelligence provider at a moment when global capital needs better information on African private markets, positioning it to be a key infrastructure provider for investment and policy decisions across the continent.[2][5]
