If you check the website of EchoVC , a VC firm founded by a Nigerian in the U.S, you will notice that the U.S. office location has gone. Right there you see only the Lagos address which is ECHOVC PARTNERS, 256A IKORODU CRESCENT, DOLPHIN ESTATE, IKOYI, LAGOS, NIGERIA.
As stage-agnostic investors with a combined network of local and global connections, we bring a disruptive approach to investing at the technology intersection of consumer, media, data, & devices and leverage knowledge transfer from Silicon Valley as a driver to seed growth across borders.
This could be an indication that the firm is doubling down on focusing on African startups. Presently it has three African start-ups in its portfolios and they include Hotels.ng, Printivio and S&T Media.
Yet, it may simply be that it wants to list only the Nigerian office while it keeps the U.S. one private. It is not likely that some of the partners will move to Nigeria if the firm decides to close the U.S. office. Also, it may be harder to its investors to understand the rationale of moving the tax base in the middle of the game since it probably raised capital as a U.S. fund.
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But who knows – things happen in this world especially in the VC fund. The company can simply decide to be an Africa-only fund and moving to Lagos may be a good strategy. Though that is unlikely as nearly all of such firms incorporate in Mauritius to reduce tax burdens. Nigeria does not offer any significant competitive advantage for them with all the multiple taxes unleashed on companies.