The 5 most popular stories on Africa Private Equity News this week
Here are summaries of the five most widely read stories this week on Africa Private Equity News.
1. Japanese VC firm closes second Africa fund
Samurai Incubate has officially closed its second Africa fund after having raised 2.026 billion yen (about $18.7 million). Since January 2020, the firm has kept fundraising despite the Covid crisis. A total of 54 corporate and individual investors participated. The raised amount surpassed the targeted amount of 2 billion yen.
The firm will accelerate investment in start-ups in Africa with the support of its LPs. Notably, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, which has a diverse network across the continent and founded Mobility 54, a corporate venture capital fund for Africa, joined as one of the LPs.
Recently, in addition to the countries of Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, Samurai Incubate added Egypt as one of its focus countries and decided to increase the maximum amount of investment to 80 million yen (about $740,000) per deal in order to meet the needs of a wider range of companies.
Targeted industries include fintech/insurtech, logistics, healthcare, consumer/e-commerce, energy, agtech, mobility and entertainment, with a focus on pre-seed, seed and series A rounds.
2. TLG Capital commences placement partnership with Calbank Ghana of up to $20m
TLG Capital announced that it is commencing a private placement partnership with Calbank Ghana, through its Africa Growth Impact Fund (AGIF).
CalBank is Ghana’s leading independent bank, which commenced operations in July 1990, and is considered one of the most innovative banks in Ghana. CalBank remains at the fore of financial intermediation in the country – from stimulating capital market engagements (it is one of the few banks listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE)), to financing major infrastructure projects, with a strong retail presence. CalBank’s objective to be Ghana’s leading digitised bank, has seen it introduce innovative electronic banking solutions to the Ghanaian market such as its short code banking and its QR code payment platforms. With over 29 branches and agents, 99 ATM locations and numerous POS terminals across Ghana, CalBank is poised to deliver enhanced value to customers and shareholders.
3. South Africa: IFC proposes $20m allocation to private credit special situations fund
The IFC has proposed an investment of up to $20 million in the Greenpoint Capital Special Situations Credit Fund, which has a target size of $100 million. The fund will be managed by Greenpoint Capital, an experienced private credit fund manager. The Greenpoint Fund will deploy capital to financially stressed but otherwise viable operating companies in southern Africa.
Greenpoint, established in Cape Town in 2011, has a track record of investing in mid-market companies in South Africa since 2011. To date, Greenpoint has executed 62 deals and realised 51.
The fund will primarily focus on South Africa, with a maximum 20% capital allocation to other southern African countries.
4. San Francisco-based Susa Ventures in Nigerian deal
Nigerian fintech platform Okra has secured a $3.5 million seed raise. The round was led by US-based Susa Ventures, with participation from existing investors TLcom Capital, and newly joined Accenture Ventures. This comes just under a year from closing its $1 million pre-seed round with only TLcom Capital participating in the round. This brings Okra’s total funding at seed to $4.5 million. The capital will be deployed to expand Okra’s data infrastructure across Nigeria.
Founded by Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside in January 2020, Okra’s Open Finance platform is the digital transformation tool for businesses in Africa and its API enables developers and businesses to build personalised digital services and fintech products for customers. Since launch, the fintech infrastructure company has provided its services to financial institutions, startups and government agencies including Interswitch, Access Bank, uLesson, Aella App (YC W17) and over a 100 digital-first platforms.
5. Agricultural insurance business raises $1.2m seed funding
OKO, an insurtech start-up that provides inclusive agricultural insurance to secure farmers’ income across Africa, has closed a seed investment of $1.2 million. The round was led by Newfund and ResiliAnce. Mercy Corps Venture, Techstars, ImpactAssets and RaSa also participated in the round.
The start-up, which currently operates in Mali and Uganda, uses satellite data and mobile payments to create automated insurance products for farmers whose fields are affected adversely by weather events – primarily droughts and floods. With the new funding, OKO aims to strengthen its presence in Mali and Uganda and expand its offerings to more African markets, starting with Ivory Coast.
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