Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) – having announced a first close of $43 million in March 2023 – recently announced a final close of $60 million for its pan-African venture fund, which invests in scalable, tech-enabled, post-revenue startups addressing difficult challenges on the continent.
Key institutional investors in the fund including SBI Holdings, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Japan International Corporation Agency, and Japan ICT Fund.
New investors joining the final close include SCM Capital, formerly known as Sterling Capital Markets Limited, from Nigeria and a few additional institutional investors from Japan, including Taiyo Holdings and C2C Global Education Japan.
The fund has an impressive portfolio, so far backing 12 companies, which include: Ceviant, Chari, Chefaa, Cloudline, Julaya, KOKO Networks, Moove Africa, mTek-Services, Nawy, NowPay, Shuttlers, and Zone.
Formed in 2021 as a joint venture between Kepple Africa Ventures – KAV (a Japanese venture capital firm) and Verod Holdings – Verod (an African growth capital private equity firm), VKAV is led by partners Satoshi Shinada, Ryosuke Yamawaki, and Ory Okolloh.
The VKAV Fund is its first investment vehicle and will focus on three key themes: companies building digital infrastructure across different sectors; inefficiency solvers who are solving for friction primarily between businesses or between businesses and consumers; and market creators who are creating economic opportunities for people, based on the changing dynamics of the overall African economy and demographics.