Entrepreneurship Zone: 09 September 2025: This Japanese VC has invested in 20 early-stage African tech startups so far this year

Mon Sep 8 09:25:21 CAT 2025

 <https://bullszimbabwe.com/> 

Bullszimbabwe.com  <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com/>       Views  <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=View%20and%20Comments> & Comments       Bullish Thoughts <http://www.bulls.co.zw/blog>        Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/BullsBears2010>         Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe>           LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bulls-n-bears-zimbabwe/57/577/72>          WhatsApp <https://chat.whatsapp.com/CF6wllAfScU9Wr6dXxoQnO>         Unsubscribe <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=Unsubscribe> 

Entrepreneurship Zone: 09 September  2025:  This Japanese VC has invested in 20 early-stage African tech startups so far this year

 <https://www.facebook.com/Hyundaizimbabwe/> 

Some VC firms are more active than others, but Japanese company Kepple Africa Ventures is setting all kinds of records having so far invested in more than 50 African tech startups – with 20 of those deals done in 2020 alone.

Founded by Ryosuke Yamawaki and Takahiro Kanzaki in December 2018, Kepple Africa Ventures has offices in Nairobi and Lagos and makes seed investments of between US$50,000 and US$150,000 in early-stage tech startups on the continent.

Since starting out, the seed-stage VC firm has made 52 investments, averaging US$100,000 each, in companies from Kenya, Nigeria and five other African countries, with 20 of those investments having been done in the first five months of this year.

Kepple has been most active in Nigeria in 2020, investing in credit service Indicina, real estate platform Seso Global, logistics startup MVXchange, educational finance platform Schoolable, e-health startup Lifestores, training and recruitment company Decagon, commodities platform TradeBuza, marketing service Termii, and investtech platform Bamboo.

In Kenya, the company has funded vehicle manufacturer Mobius Motors, health platform Connect Afya, connectivity startup Koko Networks, music platform Mdundo, commerce platform Sky.Garden, digital counselling service Wazi, and payments platform Boya, while also added to its portfolio in 2020 were two Ghanaian companies – digital banking platform Boost and agri-tech startup Complete Farmer.

The rest of the list is completed by Cameroonian e-health startup Health Lane, the fully distributed but Africa-focused USSD integration platform Hover, and France-based, Tunisia-focused insect-based protein producer NextProtein.

Yamawaki told Disrupt Africa the fund prided itself on being able to move extremely quickly.

“Our due diligence is exceptionally quick compared with other VCs. We’ve completed some of our deals within two weeks from end to end,” he said.

Tech-focused but sector agnostic, and primarily focused on East and West Africa, Kepple is primarily focused on seed-stage opportunities. However, it does sometimes go in on bigger rounds, as in the case of Kenyan logistics company Sendy, whom it helped raise cash from Japanese investors like Yamaha and therefore gained a chance to contribute to its recent bumper investment. 

In general, Kepple, whose LPs are mostly Japanese high net worth individuals, helps link the African and Japanese startup ecosystems, and helps its portfolio companies access follow-on funding.

“We do something we call “Gateway to Japan”, where we arrange a trip to Tokyo and set up meetings with top-notch Japanese corporate investors,” Yamawaki said.

There are further benefits to portfolio companies to being part of the large Kepple stable.

“We actively connect startups in our portfolio for knowledge sharing and business partnerships,” Yamawaki said. “We also run a WhatsApp group for all our portfolio companies, which serves as a robust mutual Q&A platform. Given the size of our portfolio, the community value we provide is unparallelled.”

Yamawaki said the Kepple fund has grown to US$13 million in size since its launch, and that it plans to continue making investments during the COVID-19 crisis while also helping its existing portfolio navigate the “new normal”.

He says the African tech startup space is a very exciting one to be active in, combining robust macro economic trends with innumerable pain points that are yet to be solved and a large talent pool.

“Missing is only money. We fill this gap and take this great opportunity,” he said.-- disrupt-africa.com

 <https://disrupt-africa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/photo-4.jpg> 

 Invest Cellphone:    +263 71 944 1674 | +27 79 993 5557 

Email:               bulls at bullszimbabwe.com <mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com> 

Website:            www.bullszimbabwe.com <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com>  

Blog:                 www.bullszimbabwe.com/blog <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com/blog> 

Twitter (X):        @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:           Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:          www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe <http://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe> 

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

(c) 2025 Web: www.bullszimbabwe.com <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com>  Email: bulls at bullszimbabwe.com <mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com>  Tel: +27 79 993 5557 | +263 71 944 1674

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250908/f6eb385d/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9458 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250908/f6eb385d/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.png
Type: image/png
Size: 34378 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250908/f6eb385d/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: oledata.mso
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 65574 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250908/f6eb385d/attachment-0001.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29361 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250908/f6eb385d/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 33815 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250908/f6eb385d/attachment-0003.jpg>