Last month, pan-African venture capital firm Verod-Kepple Africa Partners reached the second close of its first fund (Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures), targeting African startups at $43 million. Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV) achieved its first close last March (at $20 million) and aims to attain its final close by the end of the year at $100 million; if reached, VKAV will join an exiguous number of Africa-focused funds with $100 million or more in total capital allotment.
Launched in 2022, VKAV is a joint venture between Verod Capital, a private equity firm and Kepple Africa, a Tokyo-based venture capital firm that, alongside other Japanese small-sized funds such as Samurai Incubate and Uncovered Fund has been an active investor in African startups in recent years with a particular interest in fintech, e-commerce and logistics.
For early-stage investing in Africa, Kepple Africa stood out for its pace in writing checks and the number of deals it made, similar to Mauritius-based Launch Africa….
