Samurai Incubate announces plans to raise over $18m for second Africa fund [Updated]

Japanese headquartered venture capital (VC) firm Samurai Incubate Africa is looking to raise 2 billion yen ($18.2-million) for a second fund to support startups in Africa.

Samurai Incubate Africa, which was established in May 2018 as Leapfrog Ventures, is a subsidiary of Samurai Incubate.

Samurai Incubate Africa said in a press release last Thursday (9 January) that it had invested in and is currently providing incubation support to 18 companies.

“In order to promote and accelerate this activity, we have decided to establish a second African fund,” it added.

The Samurai Africa Fund 2 Investment Partnership will provide ticket sizes of between $50k to $500k

The VC firm explained that the second fund, the Samurai Africa Fund 2 Investment Partnership, will target three African countries, namely Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.

The VC said it will also invest in startups from other African countries.

The fund is looking to invest in areas such as fintech and insurtech, logistics, medtech and healthtech, retailtech and e-commerce, energy, agritech, transportation and mobility, as well as entertainment.

Samurai Incubate Africa said it will provide ticket sizes of between $50 000 to $500 000.

Samurai Incubate Africa associate Shoko Nakanowatari told Ventureburn today that fund expects to make its first investment in April.

Nakanowatari said startups looking to tap the fund can contact the VC by sending an email to africa@s-inc.asia

Samurai Incubate Africa also said it had been commissioned by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) to conduct research on the promotion of entrepreneurship and the formation of a startup ecosystem in the African region.

This initiative, the VC firm added, will strengthen Jica’s support for entrepreneurs in African countries.

Some of Samurai Incubate Africa’s deals from its first fund include a $50 000 investment in Kenyan startup Biasharabot and $190 000 in three Ugandan startups Francom, Swipe2pay and Xente.

Other Samurai Incubate Africa portfolio companies include Kenya’s Mpost, money transfer service SimbaPay and Nigerian fintech Wallets Africa.

Read more: Leapfrog Ventures CEO reveals $100k investment in Kenya’s MPost was concluded last year
Read more: Leapfrog Ventures’ Takuma Terakubo wants to fund 200 startups by 2020

UPDATE (17 January 2020): An earlier version of this article stated that Samurai Incubate Africa said it will provide ticket sizes of between 5 million yen to 50 million yen ($45 500 to $450 000).

Samurai Incubate Africa associate Shoko Nakanowatari subsequently told Ventureburn on 17 January that the firm will now invest ticket sizes of between $50 000 and $500 000. The article has been updated to reflect these changes.

Featured image: Pepi Stojanovski via Unsplash