Samurai Incubate, a Tokyo-based Venture Capital firm has launched the Samurai Africa Fund II, a new $18m fund targeted at startups in Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria.
The fund will invest a minimum of about $46,000 to $460,000 for startups in the seed to series A stage while targeted verticals are FinTech / InsureTech, logistics, MedTech / healthcare, retail and e-commerce, AgriTech, transport and mobility, and entertainment.
Rena Yoneyama, Managing Partner of Samurai Incubate Africa, will play a management role for the second fund.
Samurai Incubate Africa is commissioned by JICA to conduct research on promoting entrepreneurship and finding out the local startup ecosystem in Africa. The firm says the work doesn’t in any way imply in evaluating the fund.
The first fund has chosen Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa as the geographical region as their focus while Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania are removed and Nigeria is added for that of the second fund.
The first fund has so far invested in the Senri, a sales optimization platform for manufacturing and distribution businesses in Africa, Kenya-based sales bot and SaaS startup Biashara, and Rwandan regional FinTech startup Exuus.
Recently, nine African startups were selected for the finals of the ‘Daikin -Samurai Incubate Africa Ideathon, an initiative by the leading multinational Air Conditioning brand DAIKIN and African early-stage VC – Samurai Incubate.
Toolboksi, a Tanzanian-based online marketplace for artisans, won the competition.
