New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- Uncovered Fund, a Japanese venture capital firm that backs African startups, has launched a new investment vehicle in partnership with another Tokyo-headquartered VC firm Monex Ventures.
The $20-million (around Rs 175 crore) fund Uncovered Monex Africa Investment Partnership (UMAIP) will invest in startups across Africa and the Middle East.
The fund plans to invest in cheque sizes ranging from $100,000 to $2 million (around Rs 87 lakh to Rs 17 crore).
"Since starting our first fund in 2020, we have invested in 29 outstanding entrepreneurs," said Takuma Terakubo, CEO, Uncovered Fund. These early-stage startups across 17 countries in Africa and in the Middle East include Nigerian communications solution firm Termii, Francophone Africa-focused logistics firm Gozem, automotive technology development company Autochek, and e-commerce and fintech app Chari.
Terakubo said, "With this new fund, we are proud to welcome Monex, one of Japan's leading financial institutions, as a partner."
The fund will also aim to connect these startups to Japanese companies for partnerships, acquisitions, and funding.
Uncovered Fund is among the many Japanese VC firms focusing on Africa, others being Samurai Incubate Africa, and Kepple Africa Ventures.
Uncovered's investment vehicle UMAIP aims to invest between $100,000 and $500,000 as its initial ticket size across 30 companies and reserve half of its fund size for follow-on rounds with $1 million to $2 million cheques.
It will focus on four sectors, which are finance, sustainability, mobility, and distribution. The sub-sectors in focus will include agritech, logistics, climate tech, solar, mobile payments, microlending, and digital retail.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.