Novastar Ventures, a company with offices in Nairobi and Lagos, is a prominent platform dedicated to funding early and growing businesses in Africa. Their focus is on supporting startups that offer innovative business models addressing the clear demand for essential goods and services.
Previously, Novastar Ventures had successfully raised two funds totaling over $200 million. They have now secured an investment of $80 million from SBI Holdings, a major Japanese venture capital group. This strategic partnership consists of a $40 million investment that will anchor Novastar’s upcoming funds. SBI Holdings will also assist in securing commitments from Japanese institutional investors for Novastar’s funds.
As part of this collaboration, SBI Holdings will take a minority stake in Novastar, providing capital to further develop the Novastar platform. However, the day-to-day management and control of Novastar, including its investment process, will remain in the hands of its four partners. SBI Holdings will have one non-executive seat on Novastar’s management board, and Riki Yamauchi will join Novastar’s investment team to oversee the achievement of partnership goals.
Steve Beck, co-founder and managing partner at Novastar, emphasized that when they started nearly a decade ago, the venture capital asset class in Africa was virtually non-existent. Although there has been remarkable growth in venture funding for African startups, they see this as just the beginning. Novastar and SBI aim to utilize this opportunity to promote sustainable and inclusive business models that can help Africa advance while minimizing the environmental impact and promoting fairness. They recognize the need for the capital, technology, and long-term perspective of established economies like Japan to make this vision a reality.
representative director, chairman, president, and CEO of SBI Holdings, expressed their recognition of Novastar as a leader in African venture capital. They view this partnership as a means to bridge Japan and Africa for financial and strategic investments, knowledge sharing, and innovative insights. It is an opportunity to leverage Africa’s unique strengths, such as its rapid growth, youthful and tech-savvy population, abundant natural resources, and increasing urbanization, for the benefit of both Japanese investors and African businesses in the pursuit of sustainable development.