Samurai Incubate, a Japanese venture capital company, recently announced the closing of $18.6 million in funding for African startups.
Kentaro Sakakibara founded Samurai Incubate, and in 2018, the company formed a subsidiary called Leapfrog Ventures to invest in Africa.
Samurai Incubate has invested $2.5 million in 20 African startups since August 2018.
Samurai aims to establish itself as a seasoned and globally respected source of funding for African startups.
Samurai Incubate intends to make pre-seed and seed investments in 30 to 40 new companies, as well as pre-Series A and Series A investments in 7 to 10 existing portfolio companies.
Samurai launched a second fund, the “Samurai Africa 2nd General Partnership,” in January 2020.
“We’ve spent the majority of our time refining and improving our operational strategy in order to optimize our value proposition to founders.
However, we may not have all been flawless. We believe that the value we carry to Japanese investors and companies can go beyond capital,” the company disclosed.
The majority of Samurai’s businesses are based in one of three African countries: Kenya, Nigeria, or South Africa. That, however, will change in the future.
Samurai Incubate Africa is adding Egypt to its list of countries to reach, according to Rena Yoneyama, the firm’s managing partner.
The now-defunct fund will concentrate on startups in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt.
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