In Summary
- Each of the 10 startups will be offered $100K of equity investments as well as $100K of hands-on venture-building support.
- These ten companies will join Catalyst Fund’s portfolio of 61 startups across emerging markets and receive capital, bespoke and expert-led venture-building support.
The Catalyst Fund has announced a $2 million investment into 10 African startups building solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa.
The Catalyst Fund is a pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator that backs high-impact startups that seek to improve the resilience of underserved, climate-vulnerable communities.
This is the inaugural cohort of the new $30 million VC fund of Catalyst Fund that is anchored by the financial sector development agency, FSD Africa.
It is aimed at supporting early-stage founders to develop technology that will make Africa more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
Catalyst Fund managing partner Maelis Carraro said that they are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with ten African startups working to build a sustainable future.
“Our goal is to back mission-driven founders that share our vision of a world where every individual has the tools and opportunities they need to thrive,” Carraro said.
“From agritech to insurtech, waste management, disaster response, and carbon finance, these startups display finance, tech, and business model innovations that will help communities better adapt to climate impacts and grow their resilience.”
Each of the 10 startups will be offered $100K of equity investments as well as $100K of hands-on venture-building support.
These ten companies will join Catalyst Fund’s portfolio of 61 startups across emerging markets and receive capital, bespoke and expert-led venture-building support.
They will also receive direct connections with investors, corporate innovators, and talent networks that can help them scale.
The Fund’s portfolio companies have raised more than US$640 million in follow-on funding to date, and currently serve more than 14 million individuals and MSMEs globally.
The ten companies joining this next cohort of Catalyst Fund are Agro Supply (Uganda), Assuraf (Senegal), Bekia (Egypt), Eight Medical (Nigeria), Farm to Feed (Kenya), Farmz2U ( Nigeria, Kenya), Octavia Carbon (Kenya), PaddyCover (Nigeria), Sand to Green Morocco and VAIS (Egypt).
FSD Africa Digital Economy director Juliet Munro said that these companies are strong examples of the innovation needed to enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities across the continent.
“At FSD Africa, we believe that by harnessing the power of tech, and specifically fintech innovation, we can help to spur the development of climate resilience solutions for Africa, thereby helping deliver on COP27’s core themes of adaptation and implementation,” Juliet said.
Catalyst Fund Partner Aaron Fu said that COP27 in Egypt called for more private sector financing to fill the $330B funding gap for adaptation and resilience by 2030.
Aaron also said that it called for more local innovations to support communities in building resilience to climate impacts.
“The Catalyst Fund’s new cohort exemplifies what these innovative climate solutions for the most vulnerable could look like,” he added.
He also said that they are also thrilled to be backing companies in Francophone Africa and Northern Africa for the first time.
Catalyst Fund intends to back many more startups like them across the African continent in the years to come.
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