Uncovered Fund of Japan launches a $15 million fund to support early-stage start-ups in Africa

Uncovered Fund, a venture capital company targeting African early-stage start-ups, announced that it has launched its $15 million fund.

The company will invest $50,000 to $500,000 in seed and Series A stages of African start-ups.

Takuma Terakubo was CEO of Leapfrog Ventures before the Uncovered Fund.

As well as the Japanese start-up incubator, Samurai Incubate, the Samurai Incubate Fund was launched; a fund focused on early-stage African start-ups.

Throughout his time there, the company raised more than $4.5 million for start-ups in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria.

Uncovered Fund focuses on startups operating in the retail, fintech, healthtech, logistics, MaaS, agritech, and smart city sectors centered in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

By supporting 15 startups this year and furthering synergies between African founders and Asian investors, Terakubo says his VC firm hopes to increase this number.

He also said that “We are looking for African startups to expand their business across multiple countries. So, we welcome startups from any country as long as the business can scale.”