The African Rivers Fund, fund manager XSML’s small and medium-sized enterprise fund targeting Central and East Africa, has invested in KARE Distribution. KARE helps locally manufactured brands to sell their products as detergent, soap, vegetable cooking oil and water to low-income households. The new funding, the size of which has not been announced, is designed to help KARE open a new supermarket targeting low income consumers in Kampala. It will also be used to help KARE open up new markets in the east of DRC. The African Rivers Fund had its first close in February 2016 at US$50m with the objective to provide risk capital to about 25 companies with an investment size in the range of US$250,000 to US$50m, although it has since revised its lower threshold to $US$100,000.