Toyota Tsusho, the leading investor in the African mobility space, has moved to expand its investment focus in Africa beyond mobility. To that effect, the Japanese VC has announced today that it had invested in Samurai Africa Fund 2 (a fund run by Samurai Incubate Inc.) in March 2021. 

Mobility 54 Investment SAS (“Mobility 54”) was founded in October 2019 by Toyota Tsusho and its subsidiary CFAO SAS (“CFAO”), a company dedicated to the investment and financing of mobility-related startups in Africa. Mobility 54 has invested approximately 12 million USD (approximately 1.3 billion JPY) in four startups since its inception, with the aim of accelerating the MaaS market in Africa and addressing issues in the mobility sector.

Samurai’s latest investment is aimed at scouting startups in fields other than mobility, such as healthcare and retail, as well as collaborating with Mobility 54 in the field of MaaS. Toyota Tsusho will contribute to the resolution of social problems in Africa through its “WITH AFRICA FOR AFRICA” ideology, which aims to evolve alongside Africa’s citizens and communities.

Read also: A New $18 Million Fund From Japanese VC Launched For African Startups 

The Target Of The Fund Under The Partnership

• The fund targets startups raising Pre-Series A rounds in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, among other countries. 

• The ticket size for investments, for this fund, will range between 100k to $735k for startups developing solutions in the Finance & insurance, logistics, medical & healthcare, retail & e-commerce, energy, agriculture, transportation & mobility, and entertainment sectors. 

• The total fund under the partnership is now $19m. 

• The previous fund of Samurai Incubate Africa made 18 seed-stage investments under the name of Leapfrog Ventures in Africa during 2018 -2019. The USD 4.5 Mn fund actively rolled out equity money in startups based out of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria.

• Particularly, the fund invested invested $50 000 in Kenyan startup Biasharabot in 2018.

How To Apply To The Fund

Click here.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer