Ethiopian tech talent marketplace lands investment from Japanese VC
Gebeya Inc., the SaaS-enabled, pan-African marketplace, today announced a new investment from Inclusion Japan (ICJ). The Tokyo-based firm provides VC funding for startups. The new investment aims to drive growth and innovation for Gebeya’s continuous expansion.
The undisclosed strategic investment will be used to expand Gebeya from a single two-sided tech talent marketplace, to a provisioner of marketplaces under a marketplace-as-a-service model. The startup will share its expertise in supplying vetted gig workers to hundreds of entrepreneurs across Africa, who seek to launch their own marketplaces. They will benefit from the ability to quickly get their businesses online, creating thousands of gig economy jobs per marketplace, across the continent.
Through its six years of operation, Gebeya has been dedicated to building Africa’s tech talent ecosystem through a combination of upskilling and job-creation opportunities for hundreds of working tech professionals while also supporting entrepreneurs looking to launch their own innovations.
“ICJ has so far invested in two African-based startups, both in Ethiopia. Dodai, an e-mobility technology startup, is run by my fellow CEO Yuma whose vision and commitment on Africa have made ICJ consider the second investment into Gebeya. ICJ investment is quite strategic in building a strong bridge between Japan and Ethiopia regarding investment, knowledge transfer, and business development,” said Amadou Daffe, Gebeya’s CEO and co-founder. “Gebeya has always thrived off strong partnerships with like-minded firms who recognise Africa’s potential and that pooling resources is critical to achieve impact at scale.”
“We are delighted to be investing in Gebeya,” said Yasuhiro Yoshizawa, director, and co-founder at ICJ. “As a fund manager with a $100 million investment budget that will focus on the Africa region, I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to invest in Gebeya, which has the greatest potential in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Gebeya has already raised a total of $4 million in seed funding from Partech Ventures, Orange Ventures, and Consonance since 2020. This strategic pre-series A investment from ICJ will allow Gebeya further to strengthen its product offering, especially the marketplace-as-a-service one, but also beef up its sales team and processes to better serve its target markets.
Gebeya’s collaboration with ICJ extends its ongoing focus on developing Africa’s Freelance Economy ecosystem and making the continent globally competitive through its supply of working professionals. The partnership will also further each company’s market position and value proposition. Gebeya has a long working history of empowering talents and entrepreneurs, while ICJ’s deep expertise with startups perfectly positions it to usher Gebeya into its new growth phase.