Tech in Africa
Toyota Tsusho Corporation made an announcement on its decision to invest in Samurai Africa Fund 2 in March 2021 managed by Samurai Incubate, a venture capital firm based in Tokyo. The fund was oversubscribed above the initial $18.4M target, raising $18.6M instead. Over 54 investors joined in as LPs – one among them was the Toyota Tsusho Corporation.
Samurai Incubate Inc. operates in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, and other areas. It was founded by Kentaro Sakakibara where it began investing in Africa through Leapfrog Ventures. In August 2018, $2.5 million was invested in 20 African startups through this new firm. In June 2019 it was renamed Samurai Incubate Africa.
Toyota Tsusho was founded in October 2019 and runs a subsidiary CFAO SAS, established as Mobility 54 Investment SAS, runs as an investment company dedicated to the investment and financing of mobility-related to startups across Africa. Since its establishment, Mobility 54 has thus far invested 12 million USD in four startups.
Among the areas targeted by the fund are medical & healthcare, transport & mobility, agriculture, finance & insurance, e-commerce & retail, and logistics.
More on the press release at Toyota Tsusho Corporation
