Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) has raised $43m as part of its fundraising for its pan-African venture fund. The fund invests in scalable, tech-enabled, post-revenue businesses addressing difficult challenges across various industries on the continent. VKAV’s initial backers include institutions such as SBI Holdings, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and individual investors such as Mr. Osamu Kaneda. VKAV is the first fund by Verod-Kepple Africa Partners, a joint venture between Verod Capital Management Limited and Kepple Africa Ventures.
VKAV’s current investments include Moove Africa (smart vehicle finance for mobility entrepreneurs), NowPay (financial wellness for employees), Koko Networks (clean cooking technology company), Ceviant (treasury management and trade finance), Chari (B2B e-commerce for FMCG), Shuttlers (affordable and reliable shared mobility), Nawy (end-to-end platform powering property transactions), and Julaya (neobank for businesses in Africa).
VKAV Partner Satoshi Shinada believes there is a tremendous opportunity for technology to drive innovation and growth in Africa, and VKAV is excited to spearhead this transformation through its investment in category-defining startups. VKAV is committed to generating outstanding returns and achieving meaningful social impact by backing entrepreneurs who are committed to solving big challenges. VKAV is also committed to supporting collaborations between African startups and Japanese strategic partners to achieve superior growth and ESG best practices in the portfolio.
VKAV portfolio companies are serving not only African customers but also global customers, and they have impacted more than 800,000 individuals and small businesses in nine markets, six of which are in Africa, and created more than 2,000 jobs.
VKAV’s commitment is strongly supported by the participation of notable LPs, including Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB). This will be JICA’s first investment in the African VC sector.
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