Lagos-based incubator hub, the Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), has launched a $500,000 seed investment fund to help early-stage-startups.

Sums ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 are expected to help these startups with their business model experimentation and operations.

Early beneficiaries of the programme - which marks the first anniversary of the CcHUB's incubation office in Lagos - are Vacantboards, Truppr, Traclist, 500shops and GeniiGames.

All of these startups went through a pre-incubation programme at CcHUB funded by a $90,000 grant from the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

"CcHUB incubation office launched in response to the need to provide business development, mentoring and funding support to start-ups that showed traction from our impactful pre-incubation programme. Our seed investment ensures startups have a sure footing post-preincubation to concentrate on rapidly executing their plans and learning from the market," said Bosun Tijani, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of CcHUB.

"Discussions are already underway with investors to provide additional funding to two of our initial beneficiaries and we hope to break the news in the coming months," said Tunji Eleso, CcHUB director of incubation.

This year has seen increasing activity in Nigeria as a centre for investment in technology startups, with the likes of 88mph partnering with L5Lab to raise $2 million to start Nigerian seed investment programme 440.

Startup pitching event DEMO Africa will also take place this year in Lagos, the first time it has been held outside of Kenya.

Meanwhile in March, seed fund LeadPath Nigeria launched a $1.5 million fund focused on startups operating in software, mobile apps, e-payments and big data.