King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is delighted to advise Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures SCSp (VKAV) as lead international counsel on the first and second closings of its pan-African venture capital fund. The second closing on 15 March 2023 brings the aggregate funds raised to US$43 million with VKAV continuing to fundraise with domestic and international investors.
Established in 2022, VKAV is the first fund by Verod-Kepple Africa Partners, a joint venture between Verod Capital Management Limited (Verod Capital) and Kepple Africa Ventures. VKAV invests in scalable, tech-enabled, post-revenue businesses across sectors that aim to create positive impact and address social challenges.
VKAV Partner Satoshi Shinada stated, “We are convinced that there is a tremendous opportunity for technology to drive innovation and growth in Africa. We are excited to spearhead this transformation through our investment in category-defining startups, and to create a positive impact on the communities they serve.”
“We are incredibly grateful for the confidence that our world-class set of investors have in our team and differentiated value creation strategy.We look forward to deepening the successful long-term partnership we have with them,” stated VKAV Partner Ory Okolloh.
The KWM team, led by London corporate partner Barri Mendelsohn and international funds partner Guo Sun Lee, with support from senior associate Justine Sinn, Elise Sum and Ivan Sze and others, acted as international funds counsel alongside Ogier as Luxembourg counsel. The KWM team combines years of experience in Africa private equity and venture capital markets with international funds expertise. The KWM team successfully advised VKAV on bringing in Asian, including major Japanese investors, to VKAV, giving them access to rapidly developing markets with high growth potential.
At present the VKAV fund is backed by SBI Holdings, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB) and other institutional and private investors. VKAV states that it is committed to generating outstanding returns and achieving meaningful social impact by backing entrepreneurs who are committed to solving big challenges, while serving as a catalyst to support collaborations between African startups and Japanese strategic partners to achieve superior growth and ESG best practices in the portfolio.
Barri Mendelsohn commented: “VKAV is an exciting new entrant to the market, accessing new sources of capital to African VC, particularly from Asia. We see the joint venture between Verod and Kepple as a groundbreaking new force, combining many years of expertise and a passion for investing in key African markets. VKAV have already announced a number of investments, such Moove Africa in smart vehicle finance, Ceviant treasury management and trade finance and Charli for B2B E-commerce, so certainly a name to watch.”
Guo Sun Lee said: “We are pleased to assist VKAV in closing with such credible investors from Asia, enabling the fund to continue investing in and contribute to the growth and development of the continent’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. This successful fundraising round is a testament to the immense potential of African startups and the growing interest in supporting them.”
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