Novastar Ventures closes $147 million third fund to drive pan-African ambitions
Novastar closes its $147 million third fund with backing from Japanese and global investors, doubling down on climate-focused startups and expanding its reach beyond East and West Africa.
Novastar Ventures has reached the final close of its third fund, the Novastar Ventures Africa People and Planet Fund III (NVIII), securing $147 million to deepen its bets on climate-focused and impact-driven startups across the continent.
The fund drew commitments from a mix of returning and new limited partners, with strong participation from Japanese investors. These include SBI Holdings, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Other backers in the fund include development finance institutions such as Norfund, Swedfund, Proparco, and British International Investment (BII), reinforcing continued institutional confidence in Novastar’s long-standing impact thesis.
With NVIII, Novastar is expanding both its geographic and sectoral focus. While the firm has historically concentrated on East and West Africa, it now plans to explore opportunities across more regions on the continent.
Bloomberg reports that Novastar will offer its Japanese limited partners co-investment rights, highlighting deepening ties between Japanese capital and African startups. This comes amid rising interest from Japan’s corporations and financial institutions seeking exposure to high-growth ventures on the continent.
The fund has already deployed capital into a number of startups, including Breadfast, Sistema.bio, Chowdeck, and MoPhones. These investments cut across sectors such as food systems, clean energy, mobility, and logistics, areas Novastar believes are critical to building resilient, low-carbon economies in Africa.
Novastar says NVIII builds on over a decade of investing in businesses that deliver both financial returns and measurable impact.
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