Monex Ventures and Uncovered Fund Launch New $20M Fund for African Startups
The fund will invest up to $2 million per company in four key sectors: finance, mobility, distribution, and sustainability.
Japanese investors are turning their attention to Africa’s burgeoning tech scene, with a new ¥3bn ($20.4m) fund dedicated to backing promising startups. Monex Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Monex Group , is partnering with Uncovered Fund to create the “Uncovered Fund Monex Africa Investment Partnership.”
The fund will invest up to $2 million per company in four key sectors: finance, mobility, distribution, and sustainability. This includes a focus on areas such as mobile payments, microlending, digital retail, logistics, and agri-tech.
This is not the first time Monex Ventures has invested in African startups, having previously supported a Kenyan car finance platform and a Japanese agritech company with significant operations in African markets. According to Monex Group CEO Yuko Kiyoaki, Africa’s projected population growth makes it a massive and important market where startups are building “next-generation social infrastructure.”
