Pan-African VC, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), has announced the successful closure of its inaugural fund, with a total of $60 million from various investors.
According to reports, the VC plans to invest in 21 growth-stage companies following an addition of new investors including:
Nigeriaâs SCM Capital (formerly Sterling Capital Markets Limited)
Taiyo Holdings and
C2C Global Education Japan
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According to Techcrunch, this close proceeds the fundâs first and second closures in 2022 and 2023, which saw investments from major Japanese institutional investors such as:
SBI Holdings
Toyota Tsusho Corporation
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank
Japan International Corporation Agency
the Japan ICT Fund
Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, a Pan-African VC Fund for Emerging Growth Stage Companies, Raises $43 Million
VKAV invests in scalable, tech-enabled, post-revenue businesses that address difficult challenges across various industries in Africahttps://t.co/zSu7WESviF
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âOver the last few years, we have seen a growth in pre-seed and seed funds, and we felt there are not enough funds at the growth stage of investing to get these companies to the next level in terms of scale, exits or even being around as sustainable profitable businesses,â VKAV partner, Ory Okolloh, told TechCrunch.
âOur focus is Series A and B but we have the ability to go earlier to pre-Series A if we think it is a good opportunity. We think thereâs still a need for more growth-stage capital with locally based investors,â she said.
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The VC fund allocates investments ranging from $1 million to $3 million, with the capacity for follow-on investments. To date, it has already deployed $17.5 million, with an average investment of $1.5 million across 12 companies spanning:
Nigeria
Egypt
Kenya
Morocco
Ivory Coast, and
South Africa
The companies invested in operate in a range of sectors including:
Fintech
Mobility
e-Commerce
Proptech
Deep tech
Insurtech
Energy, and
Healthcare
Companies in the VCâs portfolio include:
Moove Africa
KOKO Networks
Nigerian shared mobility startup Shuttlers
Aerospace startup Cloudline
Moroccoâs B2B e-commerce and retail startup Chari, and
Insurtech mTek-Services
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