Toyota Tsusho | Africa CEO Voices

Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures secures investment from Toyota Tsusho

August 16, 2022August 16, 2022

AFRICA – Toyota Tsusho has announced an investment in Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), managed by Verod-Kepple Africa Partners (VKAP). This investment intends to promote entrepreneurs while also exploring business synergies with Toyota Tsusho Group in Africa. This new investment will be used to source startups in healthcare, consumer products, carbon neutrality, and other disciplines, as well as to pursue commercial…

Venture capital Mobility 54 invests in telematics insurance company AiCare

June 15, 2021June 15, 2021

KENYA – Toyota Tsusho Corporation and its group company CFAO SAS is investing in AiCare Group Inc., a provider of telematics insurance system for insurance companies in Kenya. The investment will be engaged by Mobility 54 Investment SAS (“Mobility 54”), a corporate venture capital subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho group which was jointly established in October 2019, through the convertible notes…

Toyota Tsusho establishes and acquires license for vehicle assembly business

November 3, 2020November 3, 2020

GHANA – Toyota Tsusho Corporation has announced the establishment of Toyota Tsusho Manufacturing Ghana Co. Limited (TTMG), a vehicle production company, and acquired a license for a vehicle assembly business, a first for a Japanese company in Ghana. The new plant will be constructed in Tema (30 km from the capital city of Accra) at an investment cost of approximately…

Kenyan mobility startup Data Integrated raises funding from Toyota Tsusho

October 26, 2020October 26, 2020

KENYA – Kenyan startup Data Integrated which provides public service vehicles with bus management and digital ticketing systems, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the Toyota Tsusho Corporation. Founded in 2012, Data Integrated provides around 3,000 public service vehicles with access to bus management and digital ticketing platform, helping to make public transport systems in Kenya more efficient. The startup…

Google and Toyota invest in mobility startup to improve transport in developing countries

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020

SOUTH AFRICA – Mobility startup WhereIsMyTransport, has raised a US$7.5 million funding round from investors including Google and Toyota for further global expansion. Formed in 2016, WhereIsMyTransport is a big data platform for sustainable mobility in emerging markets, which connects and collects data and integrates this information on its open data platform. Its products are used by cities to coordinate…

Kenyan logistics startup Sendy raises US$20m in funding round backed by Toyota

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020

KENYA – Sendy, an on-demand logistic platform that connects clients to drivers and vehicles for goods delivery, has raised a US$20 million Series B led by Atlantica Ventures. Sendy’s US$20 million round includes an R&D arrangement with Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a trade and investment arm of Japanese automotive company Toyota, whose investment comes from a venture arm the company established…

Tsusho Corporation to start Toyota Hilux assembly plant in Kenya

October 18, 2019October 18, 2019

KENYA – Toyota Tsusho Corporation (“Toyota Tsusho”) announced that it’ll begin knock-down production (vehicle assembly) of the Toyota Hilux pickup within the Republic of Kenya. The growth of local producing is based on Toyota Tsusho’s memorandum of understanding signed with the Kenyan government at the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7). Toyota Tsusho has made the Land Cruiser…

Toyota expands operations into Ghana, plans new assembly plant

September 2, 2019September 2, 2019

GHANA – Toyota Tsusho Corporation, the largest car manufacturer in the world by volume, is set to start a new car assembly plant in Ghana. The company has signed a deal with the Ghanaian government allowing it to establish an assembly plant in the country. The deal was signed in Yokohama, Japan, in the presence of Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo.…

Powerhive Inc raises US$9.3m to expand solar power connectivity in Africa

July 15, 2019July 15, 2019

KENYA – Powerhive Inc, a micro-grids operator, has raised US$9.3 million (Sh930 million) in its Series B round of funding to enable the firm expand its solar power connectivity. Powerhive chief executive Christopher Hornor said Toyota Tsusho participated in the latest round with a commitment to actively participate in the project’s rollout for connecting solar power to 20,000 families across…