Gebeya Raises Pre-series A Funding from Tokyo-based VC Firm

Gebeya Inc., the SaaS-enabled, Pan-African marketplace, today announced a new investment from, a Tokyo-based VC firm,  Inclusion Japan (ICJ). The new investment aims to drive growth and innovation for Gebeya’s continuous expansion.

The undisclosed strategic investment will be used to expand Gebeya from a single two-sided tech talent marketplace to a provisioner of marketplaces under a Marketplace-As-A-Service model.

Headquartered in Addis Ababa and with offices in Kenya and Senegal, Gebeya has six years of operation and has been working to build Africa’s tech talent ecosystem through a combination of upskilling and job-creation opportunities for hundreds of working tech professionals while also supporting entrepreneurs looking to launch their own innovations.

“ICJ has so far invested in two African-based startups, both in Ethiopia. Dodai, an e-mobility technology startup, is run by my fellow CEO Yuma whose vision and commitment to Africa have made ICJ consider the second investment into Gebeya. ICJ investment is quite strategic in building a strong bridge between Japan and Ethiopia regarding investment, knowledge transfer, and business development.” said Amadou Daffe, Gebeya’s CEO & Co-founder.

To date, ICJ has invested in 16 startups under their ICJ No. 2 Fund. The undisclosed investment is the fund’s first in Africa’s talent marketplace space. Start-ups in Africa raised nearly $5 billion last year, breaking the 2021 record of $4.6 billion, in the face of a global funding downturn, according to Africa: The Big Deal.

“We are delighted to be investing in Gebeya,” said Yasuhiro Yoshizawa, Director, and Co-Founder at ICJ. “As a fund manager with a $100 million investment budget that will focus on the Africa region, I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to invest in Gebeya, which has the greatest potential in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with ICJ and are confident that this investment will help us to take our company to new heights,” said Daffe. “We are excited to see what the future holds and are committed to delivering the best possible products and services to our customers.”

Gebeya has already raised a total of $4M in SEED funding from Partech Ventures, Orange Ventures, and Consonance since 2020. This strategic Pre-Series A investment from ICJ will allow Gebeya further to strengthen its product offering, especially the Marketplace-As-A-Service one, but also beef up its sales team and processes to better serve its target markets both for its supply and demand sides.