# Ryosuke Yamawaki

> Ryosuke Yamawaki is a Series A investor at Kepple Africa Ventures backing Retail and B2B. See 5 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Kepple Africa Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kepple-africa-ventures)
- Total investments: 5
- Last investment: Oct 2025
- Lead investor: 40%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryosuke-rio-yamawaki-999b9136/

Ryosuke Yamawaki is a Series A investor at Kepple Africa Ventures focused on Retail and B2B. Traveled alone to Africa in the third year of university and engaged in the establishment of the Japanese Embassy in Botswana for two years. Operates large-scale diplomatic events such as the first TICAD ministerial meeting co-sponsored by the United Nations and the Government of Japan and the official visit of the Crown Prince of Japan to Kenya.Engaged in import / export and business investment of auxiliary steel materials at Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Responsible for the first import of manganese ore from Burkina Faso to Japan and the acquisition of a South African mining company owned by resource major Anglo American. From 2018, he founded Lending startup Crediation and Kepple Africa Ventures, a VC fund specializing in Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Retail | 2 | 40% |
| B2B | 1 | 20% |
| FinTech | 1 | 20% |
| Payments | 1 | 20% |
| Software | 1 | 20% |

11 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 2 | 40% |
| Seed | 1 | 20% |
| Funding Round | 1 | 20% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Egypt | 1 | 20% |
| Kenya | 1 | 20% |
| Morocco | 1 | 20% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Chari | Chari is an e-commerce and fintech app for traditional retailers in French-Speaking Africa allowing them to order any consumer goods they sell and get delivered for free in less than 24 hours. Chari is also a financial services provider for these retailers, offering them microloans | $12M | Series A | Oct 15, 2025 |  |
| Workpay | Workpay is a Payroll, Benefits, Compliance software company with embedded finance for local and remote teams in Africa. We empower teams to hire local and remote teams across Africa while staying compliant and without the hustle of having local entities. | $5M | Series A | Aug 22, 2024 |  |
| Chefaa | Chefaa is a GPS-enabled pharmacy benefits platform connecting patients & pharmacies nation-wide to help patients manage all their pharmacy needs. Chefaa uses big data, data ming & machine learning | $5.3M | Seed | Dec 17, 2023 |  |
| Chari | Chari is an e-commerce and fintech app for traditional retailers in French-Speaking Africa allowing them to order any consumer goods they sell and get delivered for free in less than 24 hours. Chari is also a financial services provider for these retailers, offering them microloans | $1.5M | Venture - Series Unknown | Jun 29, 2023 |  |
| Chari | Chari is an e-commerce and fintech app for traditional retailers in French-Speaking Africa allowing them to order any consumer goods they sell and get delivered for free in less than 24 hours. Chari is also a financial services provider for these retailers, offering them microloans | $1.5M | Venture - Series Unknown | Jun 29, 2023 |  |

5 of 5 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Dragon Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dragon-capital-cb86) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Global Brain Corporation](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/global-brain-corporation) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Acadian Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/acadian-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [AXIAN](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/axian-fb5f) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Disruptech Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/disruptech) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [GMS Capital Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gms-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Kepple Africa Ventures

VC Fund · Tokyo, Japan

Kepple Africa Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm.

4 contacts available at Kepple Africa Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ryosuke Yamawaki | Founder & General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ryosuke-yamawaki-a570 |
| Satoshi Shinada | Founder & General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/satoshi-shinada |
| Takahiro Kamisaki | Founder & General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/takahiro-kamisaki |
| Takahiro Kamisaki | General Partner and Founder | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kanzaki-takahiro |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [General Catalyst](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/general-catalyst-partners) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Ryosuke Yamawaki invest in?

Ryosuke Yamawaki invests primarily in Retail, B2B and FinTech startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 5 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Egypt. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Ryosuke Yamawaki last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Ryosuke Yamawaki closed in Oct 2025. Shizune tracks 5 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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