Kepple, The Japanese VC Company, Added 16 Startups Its Final List Of Fiscal Year 2020

Kepple Africa Ventures recently added 16 more African tech startups to round up its finalist of 36 potential startup tech firms entitled to receive its funds for 2020. Overtime, the Japanese venture capital portfolio has recorded 66 companies cosigned to receive its funds.

Kepple Africa Ventures – the Japanese investment company based in Africa was established in December 2018 by Takahiro Kanzaki and Ryosuke Yamawaki with two different offices stationed in Africa’s famous commercial zone, Lagos and Nairobi. 

To bridge the gap between the Asian and African startup companies, the VC company issues investment worth a minimum of $50,000 and a maximum of $150,000 to African based startup at their seed stage.

It is reported that roughly 60% of the startup companies cosigned under the VC company are recorded to have received its average amount of investments worth a hundred thousand dollars.

In the first half of 2020, Kepple Africa Ventures reported having invested in 20 African startup tech companies, which sums up fifty startup companies on its funding platform based on the investment reports they publicized in May 2020.

The Japanese VC company recently revealed the additional 16 startup tech companies that expand its portfolio of 66 African startup companies receiving its funds.

Nigerian startup companies are reported to be the most beneficiaries of the Japanese investment program amongst other African startup companies.

The startup companies representing Nigeria include Pngme – financial data API, MyAwayHome – prop-tech startup, Beacon Power Services and Shyft – energy companies, Riby – e-banking, Autochek – auto-tech company, and Curacel – e-health insurance startup.

The Kenyans are also renowned for being a part of the Japanese investment program. In contrast, the startups representing Kenya include iBuild – construction marketplace, PayGo Energy – smart technology for cooking, Onboard – smart manual developer, Ongair – customer service platforms, and Wattnow – energy company; both Onboard and Wattnow are Tunisian startups based in Kenya.

The last four startup tech companies completed the 16 new companies Kepple Africa Ventures added to its investment plan, including Meaningful Gigs – digital designer recruitment company, Digitech – FinTech platform, Formplus – form organizer, Instill Education – ed-tech startup. Meanwhile, the two Africa-focused companies based overseas are Formplus and Meaningful Gigs.

Yamawaki disclosed that their offices stationed in Lagos and Nairobi influenced startups’ participation in these locations to benefit from Kepple’s investment programs.

He also noted that funding increased rapidly, which further boosted the efficiency of spreading funds to the underserved startups in Africa.

Yamawaki said “Our due diligence is exceptionally quick compared with other VCs. We’ve completed some of our deals within two weeks from end to end.”

The Kepple investment program is focused on tech-based platforms that are primarily stationed either in the west or eastern region of Africa. To be eligible to receive its funds, it must be a startup company at its seed-stage. 

Moreover, the Japanese VC company has made exceptions to raise a bigger round of funds, especially for Sendy – a Kenyan based logistic company that received Kepple’s funds, a large amount of funds they realized from a Japanese angel investor, Yamaha.