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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-ZW link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><img width=763 height=259 id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D62CE6.F1978E70"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>Yamawaki told Disrupt Africa the fund prided itself on being able to move extremely quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>“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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>“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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>There are further benefits to portfolio companies to being part of the large Kepple stable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#3A4149;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'>“Missing is only money. We fill this gap and take this great opportunity,” he said.-- disrupt-africa.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#606569;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><a href="https://disrupt-africa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/photo-4.jpg" title=""This Japanese VC has invested in 20 early-stage African tech startups so far this year" "><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#19232D;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=702 height=336 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D63577.7428CE60" alt="https://disrupt-africa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/photo-4-702x336.jpg"></span></a><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#606569'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><i><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Invest Wisely!</span></i><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Bulls n Bears <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Telephone: </span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><a href="tel:%2B263%204%202927658" target="_blank"><span style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>+263 4 2927658</span></a></span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Cellphone: </span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><a href="tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674" target="_blank"><span style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>+263 77 344 1674</span></a></span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Alt. Email: </span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><a href="mailto:info@bulls.co.zw"><span style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>info@bulls.co.zw</span></a></span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Website: </span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ" target="_blank"><span style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>www.bulls.co.zw</span></a></span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Blog: </span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw" target="_blank"><span style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>www.bulls.co.zw/blog</span></a></span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Twitter: @bullsbears2010<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>LinkedIn: Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Facebook: </span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimbabwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA" target="_blank"><span style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe</span></a></span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Skype: Bulls.Bears <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><img border=0 width=210 height=101 id="Picture_x0020_7" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D5644F.B4AB0B00" alt="cid:image012.jpg@01D0BFE7.544DF490"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:23.4pt;background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>