Japan-headquartered venture capital firm Samurai Incubate’s second Africa-focused fund has closed at almost ¥2.03bn ($18.6m) with contributions from limited partners (LPs) including several corporate investors.
Founded in 2008, Samurai Incubate incubates and invests in early-stage companies in its home country as well as China and Israel. The firm’s first Africa-focused fund was managed by its Samurai Incubate Africa subsidiary, which was formed in 2018 and known as Leapfrog Ventures at the time.
Samurai Africa Fund II is focusing on startups based in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa at pre-seed to series A stage. It will invest in areas including financial, insurance, supply chain, healthcare, e-commerce, energy, agriculture, mobility and entertainment technologies.
Online information portal All About, IT services firm Bespoke, social gifting platform Giftee, mobile game developer MyNet, internet group United and furniture e-commerce group Vega Corporation were among the LPs for the fund.
Digital advertising technology providers Cross Marketing Group, CyberBuzz, Fan Communications, Septeni Holdings and Voyage Group also contributed, as did Toyota Tsusho, the trading arm of automotive manufacturer Toyota, and PR Times, marketing group Vector’s communications subsidiary.
The LPs were filled out by investment adviser Hayate Investment, hedge fund manager Schweitzer Investment and 23 private backers.
