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 synergies with Toyota Tsusho Group and Mobility 54.
VKAV is the first fund launched by VKAP, a joint venture between Verod Capital Management Limited, a private equity fund with a track record of investing in and supporting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and startups in Africa, and Kepple Africa Ventures, an African venture capital firm.
VKAV intends to invest US$100 million USD in scalable, tech-enabled, post-revenue businesses that will bring about transformative change by addressing complex challenges across diverse industries on the continent during the next five years, from 2022 to 2026.
In October 2019, Toyota Tsusho and its affiliate CFAO SAS launched Mobility 54 Investment SAS (Mobility 54), a corporate venture capital firm committed to investing in and funding mobility-related startups in Africa.
Mobility 54 has invested roughly US$28 million (as of the end of July 2022) in 14 businesses since its inception, and it is increasing its investment efforts to accelerate the MaaS business in Africa and to address social concerns confronting the mobility sector.
Toyota Tsusho made an investment in Samurai Africa Fund 2 Investment Partnership, a fund administered by Samurai Incubate Inc. that promotes scouting for entrepreneurs, including those in industries other than mobility, in April 2021.
The new investment into Samurai’s fund was aimed at scouting startups in fields other than mobility–such as healthcare and retail–as well as for collaboration with Mobility 54 in the field of MaaS.
Toyota Tsusho will contribute to the resolution of social challenges in Africa through its “WITH AFRICA FOR AFRICA” attitude, which aspires to grow with the people and communities of Africa while expanding its company.
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