MAGIC Fund — Investment Thesis & Preferences

MAGIC Fund Research

Investment Thesis

MAGIC Fund operates on a "founders backing founders" thesis with the conviction that smaller, founder-led funds perform best at the pre-seed and seed stages. Founded in 2017 and based in Los Angeles, MAGIC Fund is uniquely structured as a decentralized fund-of-micro-funds run by 10-12+ repeat founder-GPs distributed across key regions: Africa, Latin America, US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Rather than building a traditional centralized VC firm with limited partners, MAGIC deliberately keeps check sizes small ($50K-$5M) and empowers many founder-GPs to make autonomous investment decisions within their regions.

The firm's core belief is articulated by Naval Ravikant: "The best founders want to be backed by other founders. They want to know the people they're taking money from have first-hand experience." This philosophy drives every aspect of MAGIC Fund's operations, from partner selection to investment strategy.

Sector and Model Focus

MAGIC Fund invests across a broad spectrum of sectors including:

Fintech & Payments: Mono (Plaid for Africa), Ontop (global payroll), Bankly (Nigeria), Oxygen (gig-economy lending), Koa (East Africa savings)
Enterprise Software & SaaS: Retool (no-code internal tools), Talla (AI-powered automation), Askdata (natural language data search)
Developer Tools & Infrastructure: Okteto (Kubernetes development platform), Acho (data engineering GUI)
Marketplaces & Commerce: Frubana (farm-to-restaurant), Grin (influencer marketing SaaS), Peeba (wholesale), Switchboard (truck freight)
Healthcare & Wellness: Chronus Health (portable lab results), Apero Health (medical billing automation), Blueberry (pediatric care), RevOps Health
Fintech & Financial Infrastructure: Fintual (automated investing), Indicina (African credit scoring), Evolve Credit (African credit marketplace), Bamboo (African securities platform)
Deeptech & Hardware: Kiwibot (autonomous delivery robots), Reelables (flexible Bluetooth trackers), Vathys (deep learning processors), Cantos (industrial tech fund)
Consumer & D2C: Allure Systems (AI apparel images), Move (supermarket of the future), Hideout (delivery-only food brands), Dryvebox (mobile golf simulators)
AI & Music Tech: Sunhouse (AI for music industry), Jitter (Figma for motion design), Muxy (interactive live video tools)
Africa-Focused: Crowdforce (offline distribution), Indicina, Evolve Credit, Bamboo, Mono, Bankly, and others

Stage Focus and Check Sizes

MAGIC Fund primarily focuses on early-stage companies:

Primary stages: Pre-Seed and Seed
Secondary stages: Series A (selective)
Check size range: $50,000 - $5,000,000
Typical check: $250,000 - $2,000,000 for core investments

Lead Tendency

MAGIC Fund explicitly does NOT lead rounds. Instead, they operate as a non-lead investor, typically participating in syndicates and co-invested rounds. This is intentional—the fund-of-micro-funds model means individual founder-GPs may co-lead with other GPs in their network, but the fund itself maintains flexibility and reserves capital for follow-on investments. They often participate alongside other early-stage investors including Y Combinator participants and other micro-funds.

Geographic Reach

MAGIC Fund's distributed founder-GP model enables investments across:

USA: Particularly active in Silicon Valley, NYC, and emerging ecosystems
Africa: East Africa (Kenya), West Africa (Nigeria), Southern Africa focus through various partners
Latin America: Colombia (Frubana), Chile (Fintual), and broader LatAm presence
Asia-Pacific: Southeast Asia (PayFazz - mobile banking for SE Asia), India (Bimaplan - insurance), and broader Asia presence
Europe: Growing presence through European founder-GPs

This geographic diversity is a core differentiator—MAGIC Fund provides local expertise and network access in regions where most traditional VCs have limited presence.

Investment Activity and Track Record

Since launch in 2017, MAGIC Fund has invested in 250+ startups across its vehicles, demonstrating consistent deployment and deep conviction in early-stage investing.

Notable Portfolio Companies (by traction/recognition):

Exits:

Medumo (acquired by healthcare infrastructure company)

High-Traction Companies:

Retool: No-code internal tools platform (major unicorn candidate)
PayFazz: Mobile banking and payments for Southeast Asia
Novo: Mobile business banking for entrepreneurs
Mono: "Plaid for Africa" – financial data aggregation
Bolt: End-to-end checkout and fraud solution (major scaling, acquired payments business)
Bamboo: First platform enabling Africans to invest in US/global securities
Bolt: Payments and fraud solution
Okteto: Kubernetes application development platform

Regional Leaders:

Africa: Indicina, Crowdforce, Bongalow, Bankly, Mono
LatAm: Frubana, Fintual, Switchboard
SE Asia: PayFazz, Somos (internet for urban developing world)
Enterprise: Talla, Askdata, Retool, Workclout

Investment Thesis Application:

The portfolio demonstrates MAGIC's commitment to backing diverse founders across geographies and sectors, with particular strength in:

Financial inclusion plays in Africa and Asia
Enterprise SaaS and developer tools
Marketplace and logistics solutions
Emerging market infrastructure

Team Structure and Partner Profiles

MAGIC Fund's Managing Partner and core team include:

Adegoke Olubusi (Managing Partner): Leads operations and strategy from Los Angeles, managing the decentralized network of founder-GPs.

Kwamena Afful (Co-Founder and Partner): Co-founded MAGIC Fund and plays a key role in the fund's overall vision and operations.

Matt Greenleaf (Founding and Operating Partner): Operational and strategic leadership, helping coordinate across the distributed GP network.

Troy Osinoff (General Partner): Co-founder of JUICE (top 1% Facebook performance marketing agency), brings growth and acquisition expertise. Previously founded Peachy and actively advises portfolio companies on paid acquisition strategies. Recently became CGO at ONAR (Sep 2025) while maintaining GP role.

Alison Cheung (General Partner): Focuses on women's health sector investments, bringing specialized expertise to healthcare and wellness investments.

Elvis Zhang, Adeel Yang, Dimeji Sofowora (General Partners): Part of the distributed network of founder-GPs, each bringing sector or geographic expertise.

Thomas Chen, Jacob Cohen, Luke Day, Michael Lisovetsky (Partners/Founders): Additional partners in the distributed network, with diverse founder backgrounds and operational experience.

The team represents a truly decentralized model where each GP operates semi-autonomously within the fund's thesis framework, enabling faster decision-making and deep regional/sector expertise.

Decision Process and Timeline

Decision Structure: Fund-of-micro-funds model with semi-autonomous founder-GPs

Individual GPs can move quickly on deals
Larger investments may involve partnership consensus
Operating partnership consensus on strategy

Decision Timeline: Typically 2-4 weeks for pre-seed/seed investments, reflecting the founder-friendly, rapid deployment ethos

Founder Preferences

MAGIC Fund explicitly backs founders solving "daunting challenges across the globe." Preferred characteristics include:

Repeat founders: GPs are themselves successful founders, understand founder challenges
Diverse backgrounds: Intentional investment across underrepresented founders globally
Problem-solver mentality: Founders tackling large, real-world problems in emerging markets
Technical depth: Particularly values technical founders in infrastructure, fintech, and developer tools
Global ambition: Founders thinking beyond their home markets
Resilience: Founders with proven ability to operate in challenging environments (emerging markets, underserved populations)

Warm Introductions and Access

Given the fund-of-micro-funds structure, warm introductions are valuable but not strictly required. However:

Warm intros to GPs: Introductions to relevant regional GP can accelerate process
Referral from portfolio company: Strong signal of fit and quality
Y Combinator connection: Fund backs many YC companies, strong relationship with YC network

Contact available through website form: https://airtable.com/shrxiGGpzwW9R8P9C

Notable Traits and Considerations

Strengths:

Truly global reach through founder-GP network (US, Africa, LatAm, Asia)
Speed and founder-friendly diligence process
Operating partner support and growth expertise (especially via Troy Osinoff/JUICE network)
Focus on underserved founders and markets
250+ company portfolio demonstrates deployment consistency
Founder-first culture (actual founders making investment decisions)

Constraints:

Does NOT lead rounds (important for founders seeking lead investors)
Smaller checks relative to traditional VCs (good for pre-seed/seed, may not work for larger Series A)
Distributed model means consistency varies by GP
Less brand recognition than mega-funds outside their network

Fund Status: Actively deploying from Fund II ($30M, closed 2021). Fund III or subsequent fund status not publicly announced as of early 2026.

Investment Fit Assessment

MAGIC Fund is ideal for:

Pre-seed and seed founders in any geography
Underrepresented founders building solutions for emerging markets
Global founders needing connections across regions
Founders comfortable with non-lead, micro-fund participation
Founders solving problems in Africa, LatAm, or Asia (regional expertise)
B2B and infrastructure founders (strongest thesis areas)

MAGIC Fund may not be ideal for:

Series A+ founders seeking substantial capital infusions
Founders who need a lead investor to validate their round
Founders seeking deep venture support from a centralized team (distributed model)
Consumer or entertainment startups (less active in these sectors)

Recent Context

As of Q4 2025 / Q1 2026:

Fund II ($30M) continues active deployment
Portfolio companies include multiple unicorn-track companies (Retool, Bolt, Mono, PayFazz, Frubana)
Team remains committed to founders-backing-founders mission
Maintained global presence despite broader VC consolidation trends
Growing emphasis on AI infrastructure and emerging market fintech

Conclusion

MAGIC Fund represents a unique model in venture capital: a true fund-of-micro-funds that combines founder expertise with global reach. By empowering repeat founder-GPs across regions, they've built a network capable of identifying and supporting early-stage founders globally—particularly those building solutions for underserved markets. Their track record of 250+ investments, combined with notable exits and high-profile follow-ons, demonstrates the model's effectiveness. For founders seeking authentic founder-backed capital with geographic and sector expertise, MAGIC Fund offers a compelling combination of speed, founder-friendliness, and global reach.