Pillar: Early-Stage Finance

Seven blue economy startups secure seed funding to enhance climate resilience in Africa

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ImpactAlpha, February 15 – Community-powered mangrove restoration. Restocking local fish supplies. A marketplace for seaweed farmers.

Triggering Exponential Climate Action, or TECA, invested $27,500 each in seven oceans and seafood enterprises in Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

The partnership between BFA Global and FSD Africa also provides the companies with hands-on support.

“We look forward to seeing the impact of their financial and tech-enabled solutions on communities and ecosystems,” said BFA Global’s David del Ser.

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7 African Startups To Receive $385k In Developing Solutions For Blue Economy

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Today, climate resilience venture launcher Triggering Exponential Climate Action (TECA) has announced the selection of seven startups to each receive $55,000 in funding to advance their solutions for the blue economy in Africa.

The startup founders were selected following their participation in TECA’s fellowship program, where they were supported to create ideas for companies in the blue economy, build teams, and form companies.

The TECA program, managed by BFA Global and supported by FSD Africa, was created to accelerate the development of climate-resilient solutions to protect and sustain the environment and

vulnerable communities. Each startup will receive $27,500 in seed capital and $27,500 in hands-on venture building support to progress financial and tech-enabled solutions that bolster the climate resilience of communities and ecosystems in and around the oceans, lakes, and rivers across the Eastern region of Africa.

“Through the TECA program, we are proud to support and accelerate the development of innovative solutions that will protect and sustain the environment and vulnerable communities in the Eastern coast of Africa. These seven startups represent the forefront of the blue economy in Africa, and we look forward to seeing the impact of their financial and tech-enabled solutions on communities and ecosystems,” said David del Ser, Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer at BFA Global.

“The ventures that have been formed through the TECA program are an inspiration. They represent young Africans – including women – coming forward with great ideas and solutions to climate-related challenges, in this case, in the blue economy. I’m proud that FSD Africa is supporting this initiative, which leverages finance and technology to help build resilience and create opportunity in the context of climate adversity. Through our partnership with BFA Global, we plan to roll out TECA beyond the blue economy to also solve for other challenges and geographies across Africa.” said Juliet Munro,

Digital Economy Director at FSD Africa.

Founders of the seven startups selected in the current cohort originate from six countries in Africa—Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tanzania—with ideas focusing on bridging existing gaps in: aquaculture; ecotourism; measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) in conservation; seaweed value chain; mangrove restoration and protection; and financial services for fisher folk. The startup companies and their solutions are:

  • AquaTrack: a data-driven solution for sustainable aquaculture production. They aim to provide a water quality monitoring device for fish farmers seeking to increase production and efficiency in their farms.
  • Carboni Bank: a community-centred platform for tourists to offset their carbon emissions and support local climate initiatives.
  • ConserVate: utilizing innovative digital technology to build local capacity for monitoring reporting and credible verification (MRV) of conservation impact for both funders and implementers to reverse the effects of climate change.
  • Mwani Blu: building a seaweed marketplace with high-level traceability, providing women smallholder farmers with dignified and stable incomes.
  • RegisTree: empowering coastal communities to be agents of climate change mitigation by facilitating their role in mangrove restoration and protection.
  • Vua Solutions: a fintech company seeking to provide affordable and responsible financial services to people working in the blue economy.
  • Wezesha Aqua Farms: seeking to address the dwindling wild capture fisheries stocks that negatively impact the livelihoods and socioeconomic status of local fishing communities around the great lakes region in Eastern Africa.

To further invest in the success of these startups, TECA will provide comprehensive venture building support that includes mentorship, capacity building, business model refinement, and support launching their products and services in the market.

Startups working on climate resilience solutions are encouraged to apply for the next TECA cohort.

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Africa getting little of $382m renewable energy projects cash

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Renewable energy projects attracted investments worth $382 billion globally in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency, but only $13 billion, or three percent of that, funded projects in Africa, highlighting a major funding gap foiling green transition and energy access on the continent.

With only 48 percent of African population having access to electricity, experts say investment in the continent’s renewable energy sector could both leapfrog the green transition efforts and connect more people to the grid.

Despite this, it has been established that investors with the capacity to invest in this sector shy away from the African market, a problem which brought together several stakeholders in the energy sector in Nairobi this week, attempting to change the narrative.

At a forum convened by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, participants drawn from the private sector, government, civil society organisations from Kenya and beyond deliberated on how investors can be mobilised to support Africa’s green transition through investments.

Reluctant to invest

Rebekah Shirley, WRI’s deputy regional director told the forum that private sector players are reluctant to invest in this sector, creating a funding gap of billions of dollars every year, despite the wide access gap.

“Even in other regions of the world where energy access is still a challenge like the Southeast Asia, we don’t see funding gaps of this magnitude, why Africa?” she posed.

Alex Wachira, principal secretary for the state department of energy, said that there is a list of challenges contributing to the energy gap, even in Kenya, which slow down economic growth in the country.

“We (the Ministry of Energy) are aware of the many challenges attributed to this, including limited incentives to attract private sector investors,” he said in a speech read by a representative.

Lack of political will

Another challenge identified is the lack of political will for appropriate legislation and implementation of policies to incentivise private sector investment in renewable energy projects, especially in rural areas.

For instance, only two of Kenya’s 47 counties have drafted energy plans that would give way to appropriate energy policies, deprioritising renewable energy projects at the local governments.

This, according to Eva Sawe – a senior programmes officer at the Council of Governors, is because lawmakers have not been sensitised on why renewable energy projects should be a priority.

But even with the right policies and incentives to support private sector investment in renewable energy on the continent, investors said there is a still a shortage of talent in Africa limiting the production capacity of companies investing in the sector.

“If an investor is coming into the country to do any renewable energy project, the first hurdle they will face is the lack of skilled people,” said Andrew Amadi, the chief executive of Kenya Renewable Energy Association.

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7 start-ups get $385k to develop blue economy solutions

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Climate resilience venture launcher Triggering Exponential Climate Action (TECA) has announced the selection of seven startups to each receive $55 000 in funding to advance their solutions for the blue economy in Africa.

The startup founders were selected following their participation in TECA’s fellowship programme where they were supported to create ideas for companies in the blue economy, build teams, and form companies.

The TECA programme, managed by BFA Global and supported by FSD Africa, was created to accelerate the development of climate-resilient solutions to protect and sustain the environment and vulnerable communities.

Each startup will receive $27 500 in seed capital and $27 500 in hands-on venture building support to progress financial and tech-enabled solutions that bolster the climate resilience of communities and ecosystems in and around the oceans, lakes, and rivers across the Eastern region of Africa.

“Through the TECA programme, we are proud to support and accelerate the development of innovative solutions that will protect and sustain the environment and vulnerable communities in the Eastern coast of Africa. These seven startups represent the forefront of the blue economy in Africa, and we look forward to seeing the impact of their financial and tech-enabled solutions on communities and ecosystems,” said David del Ser, chairperson and chief innovation officer at BFA Global.

“The ventures that have been formed through the TECA program are an inspiration. They represent young Africans – including women – coming forward with great ideas and solutions to climate-related challenges, in this case, in the blue economy,” added Juliet Munro, digital economy director at FSD Africa.

“I’m proud that FSD Africa is supporting this initiative, which leverages finance and technology to help build resilience and create opportunity in the context of climate adversity. Through our partnership with BFA Global, we plan to roll out TECA beyond the blue economy to also solve for other challenges and geographies across Africa.”

Founders of the seven startups selected in the current cohort originate from six countries in Africa—Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania—with ideas focusing on bridging existing gaps in: aquaculture; ecotourism; measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) in conservation; seaweed value chain; mangrove restoration and protection; and financial services for fisher folk. The startup companies and their solutions are:

  • AquaTrack: a data-driven solution for sustainable aquaculture production. They aim to provide a water quality monitoring device for fish farmers seeking to increase production and efficiency in their farms.
  • Carboni Bank: a community-centered platform for tourists to offset their carbon emissions and support local climate initiatives.
  • ConserVate: utilizing innovative digital technology to build local capacity for monitoring reporting and credible verification (MRV) of conservation impact for both funders and implementers to reverse the effects of climate change.
  • Mwani Blu: building a seaweed marketplace with high-level traceability, providing women smallholder farmers with dignified and stable incomes.
  • RegisTree: empowering coastal communities to be agents of climate change mitigation by facilitating their role in mangrove restoration and protection.
  • Vua Solutions: a fintech company seeking to provide affordable and responsible financial services to people working in the blue economy.
  • Wezesha Aqua Farms: seeking to address the dwindling wild capture fisheries stocks that negatively impact the livelihoods and socioeconomic status of local fishing communities around the Great Lake region in Eastern Africa.

To further invest in the success of these startups, TECA will provide comprehensive venture building support that includes mentorship, capacity building, business model refinement, and support launching their products and services in the market.

Startups working on climate resilience solutions are encouraged to apply for the next TECA cohort. For more information, visit the TECA website.

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Former Climate Action Champion, Nigel Topping, to join FSD Africa as Senior Climate Adviser

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Nairobi, 17 January 2023 – FSD Africa is delighted to announce that Nigel Topping, until recently the UK’s High-Level Climate Action Champion, will be joining the organisation as a senior climate advisor to strengthen its offering in developing innovative approaches to addressing the impact of climate change in Africa.

Nigel was appointed as the UK’s High-Level Climate Action Champion in January 2020 ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, stepping down from the role in November 2022 after COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh. During this period, working closely with both the outgoing Climate Champion from Chile, Gonzalo Muñoz, and the incoming Climate Champion from Egypt, Mahmoud Mohieldin, Nigel worked tirelessly to promote climate action on the part of non-state actors – civil society and the private sector – and establish the Climate Champions Team as a formidable catalyst for climate action. The Climate Champions Team has been able to amplify its direct impact through an extraordinarily impressive range of innovative partnerships, including in Africa.

In his new role as a Senior Adviser, Nigel will complement FSD Africa’s work on climate finance, and particularly in innovative green financing.

It has been estimated that climate finance in Africa needs to increase by a factor of nine times (by an additional $250bn per annum) to meet the continent’s aggregate Nationally Determined Contributions and, in particular, to increase climate finance coming from the private sector which, at just 14% of the total, is a much lower share than in other regions. There is also a need to spread climate finance more equitably around the continent (as more than 50% of climate finance currently goes to just 10 countries) and to change the mix of climate finance more towards equity (or grants) than debt which the continent can scarcely afford at present.

To achieve this, FSD Africa is planning to both scale up its work in green finance and support new partnerships with organisations looking to drive climate and nature-positive action and which see advantage in leveraging FSD Africa’s financial sector expertise and networks.

Commenting on his appointment, Nigel Topping praised FSD Africa for its trailblazing work in developing Africa’s financial markets and innovation in tapping capital using new instruments such as green bonds and gender bonds. He observed that FSD Africa has been supporting green finance in Africa for several years having initiated green bond programmes in Kenya and Nigeria in 2017. It has used this experience to build out an extensive and diversified portfolio of other projects in the climate and nature space.

He commented: “Climate finance will be critical for enabling Africa to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change and to ensure that its future development path is consistent with the goal of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5°C. I look forward to working with the FSD Africa team of experts across the African market to fast track the development of innovative climate finance and nature programmes and ensure that more benefits are realised by the population and investors across the markets.”

FSD Africa’s CEO Mark Napier welcomed Nigel Topping’s appointment:

“We are delighted to have Nigel joining our team. Nigel is an incredibly impressive and collaborative leader with great sectoral knowledge on climate action. I have no doubt at all that he will be able to accelerate the impact of our work on climate, deepen our technical knowledge in relevant sectors and join us in brokering exciting new partnerships.”

FSD Africa’s Board Chair, Frannie Léautier, joined the CEO in welcoming Nigel Topping observing that a commitment to developing and implementing transformative adaptation programmes to tackle climate change in Africa will be key in tackling poverty and inequality: “Nigel’s decision to join FSD Africa as a Senior Climate Adviser is a fantastic endorsement of the work that our team has been doing for several years to develop solutions to the continent’s most pressing challenge of the day – climate change. We will benefit greatly from his leadership and experience,” she added.

Ugandan Startup, Agro Supply Receives $200k to Accelerate Their Growth

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Pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator Catalyst Fund has announced a $2 million investment in 10 startups developing solutions to improve the resilience of communities most vulnerable to climate change in Africa.

This is the first cohort of startups to receive funding from Catalyst Fund’s new $30M investment fund, backed by the financial sector development agency FSD Africa, aimed at helping early-stage founders develop technologies that will make Africa less susceptible to the impact of climate change.

These companies join Catalyst Fund’s existing portfolio in emerging markets which is made up of 61 startups. Catalyst Fund’s portfolio companies have so far raised more than US$640 million in follow-on financing and their solutions have already benefited more than 14 million people and small and medium-sized businesses worldwide.

The startups include Eight Medical, Farmz2U, and PaddyCover from Nigeria, Farm to Feed and Octavia Carbon from Kenya, Bekia and VAIS from Egypt, Agro Supply from Uganda, Assuraf from Senega, and agroforestry startup Sand to Green from Morocco.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to invest and support these ten African startups who are working through their innovative solutions to build a more resilient and sustainable future,” said Maelis Carraro, partner, and director of Catalyst Fund.

“Our goal is to support entrepreneurs who share our vision of a world in which everyone has the tools and opportunities they need to thrive. From AgTech and InsurTech, to waste management, natural disaster response, and carbon finance, these startups showcase technology and business model innovations that will help communities better adapt. to climate impacts and to increase their resilience,” Carraro explained further in a press statement.

Each of the 10 startups received $100,000 in capital investments as well as $100,000 in personalized support from Catalyst Fund experts aimed at accelerating their growth. In addition, each startup may be offered direct relationships with investors and talent networks that allow them to evolve.

Agro Supply Limited has developed a layaway system that makes use of a USSD code and scratch cards plus mobile money to enable farmers to save for agricultural inputs.

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Catalyst Fund announces a $2 million investment in ten African startups promoting climate resilience

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Catalyst Fund recently announced its first investments in ten African startups that are leading the way in areas like agtech, insurtech, waste management, disaster response, and carbon finance. The goal is to help communities adapt to the effects of climate change and build their resilience.

This is the first group of entrepreneurs to get help from its new $30 million pre-seed venture capital fund and accelerator. Its first partner, FSD Africa, is the fund’s leader, and the fund’s goal is to support high-impact entrepreneurs who are working to help underserved, climate-vulnerable communities in Africa become more resilient.

Catalyst Fund’s goal is to help entrepreneurs who use new ideas in technology, finance, and data to solve the biggest problems and take advantage of the biggest opportunities of our time. To do this, it has expanded its mission to include investing in businesses that tackle climate change, which is the biggest problem we all face.

Catalyst Fund already has 61 companies in emerging markets in its portfolio. These new startups will join them and get money, expert-led help building their businesses, and access to a network of investors, corporate innovators, and talented people who can help them grow.

Today pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator Catalyst Fund announced a $2 million investment into 10 startups building solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa.

This is the first group of companies to get money from Catalyst Fund’s new $30 million venture capital fund, which is led by the financial sector development agency FSD Africa. The goal of the fund is to help early-stage founders create technology that will make Africa more resistant to the effects of climate change.

Each of the ten firms will receive $100,000 in equity investments as well as $100,000 in hands-on venture-building assistance.

These companies will join Catalyst Fund’s existing portfolio of 61 startups in emerging markets. They will get funding, specialized and expert-led help building their businesses, and direct connections to investors, corporate innovators, and talent networks that can help them grow.

Catalyst Fund’s Managing Partner, Maelis Carraro, said, “We are thrilled to be able to work with ten innovative African startups to build a more resilient and sustainable future.”

Our goal is to help mission-driven founders who share our vision of a world where everyone has the tools and opportunities they need to thrive. From agtech to insurtech, waste management to disaster response, and carbon finance to carbon finance, these startups show finance, tech, and business model innovations that will help communities better adapt to climate change and become more resilient.

Here are the top ten startups.

Agro Supply (Uganda)

A mobile layaway system that helps farmers save money slowly using their cell phones and cash out to buy farm inputs like hybrid (drought-resistant) seeds, from maize to sorghum, sunflower, and soybean, during planting season.

Assaraf (Senegal)

A digital insurtech platform that gives end users accesses to a variety of insurance products from more than 20 insurance companies, such as insurance for agriculture, cars, health, homes, and natural disasters. It also has a fully integrated claims management system.

Bekia (Egypt)

A technologically advanced waste management solution that enables businesses and households to trade in their waste (including plastic, paper, electronics, metals, and cooking oil) for cash rewards paid to a digital wallet.

Eight Medical (Nigeria)

A cloud-based platform for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) that lets people get urgent care when and where they need it.

This “911 for Africa” puts emergency medical workers on motorcycles in touch with people in trouble in 10 minutes or less, even if the problem is caused by the weather.

Farm to Feed (Kenya)

Afirm n the food supply chain that offers a digitally enabled solution to food loss/waste. Their environmentally friendly strategy focuses on giving farmers a market for their surplus and imperfect produce, improving food security, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Farmz2U (Nigeria + Kenya)

An agtech company promoting sustainable agriculture. Farmers can obtain individualized farming guidance (particularly on regenerative farming practices), reasonable loans, quality and traceable inputs, and direct customers for their harvest through Farmz2U.

Octavia Carbon (Kenya)

Global South’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) firm is constructing the world’s most affordable DAC hub.

Octavia is building DAC equipment to pull carbon out of the air and sell it to off-takers as either carbon dioxide or carbon credits.

Paddy Cover (Nigeria)

Works with established insurers and digital platforms to create and sell customized products through their platform. These products include health, life, and index-based crop insurance, which will be available in the future.

The services are built into the customer’s life in some way, either as a convenience or as a way to add value.

Sand to Green (Morocco)

Using agroforestry and a solar-powered desalination system, they turn deserts into land that can be used for farming. They also design climate-smart regenerative farms.

VAIS (Egypt)

A precision agtech startup dedicated to climate resilience and food security by giving farms data intelligence through their FarmGATE application, which is powered by proprietary artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML)-based virtual field probing (VFP) technology. This helps farms make better use of water and other farm inputs to get better yields.

Catalyst Fund’s portfolio companies have raised more than US$640 million in follow-on funding so far, and they now serve more than 14 million individuals and MSMEs around the world.

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3 Nigerian tech startups secure $600,000 in pre-seed from Catalyst Fund

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Three Nigerian tech startups, PaddyCover, Farmz2U, and Eight Medical, have secured a total of $600,000 from pre-seed venture capital and accelerator Catalyst Fund. 

This breaks down to $200,000 each for each of the three startups to scale their businesses.  

The funding was part of a $2 million investment into 10 startups building solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa. 

Each of the 10 startups is offered $100,000 of equity investments as well as $100,000 of hands-on venture-building support. 

According to the VC, this is the inaugural cohort of the new $30 million VC fund of Catalyst Fund, anchored by financial sector development agency FSD Africa, aimed at supporting early-stage founders to develop technology that will make Africa more resilient to the impacts of climate change. 

Who they are: The three Nigerian startups benefiting from the funding cover insurtech, agtech, and medtech. 

  • PaddyCover works with established insurers and digital platforms to design and offer bespoke products via their platform that facilitates flexible insurance packages, including health, life, and, in the future, index-based crop insurance. The offerings are built into the lifestyle touchpoints of the customer, either as a convenience or as complementary value-adds. 
  • Farmz2U is an agtech enterprise driving sustainable agriculture. Through Farmz2U, farmers can access personalized farming advice (especially on regenerative farming practices), affordable credit, quality and traceable inputs, and direct buyers for their harvest. 
  • Eight Medical is a cloud-native Emergency Medical Services (EMS) platform that provides on-demand urgent care when and where it is needed. This “911 for Africa” connects emergency medical responders on motorcycles to users in distress in 10 minutes or less, including for climate-induced crises. 

The goal of the Fund: While expressing the Fund’s excitement in partnering with groundbreaking African startups working to build a more resilient and sustainable future, the Managing Partner of Catalyst Fund, Maelis Carraro said:  

“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. 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.”

Other African startups that received the investment include Agro Supply from Uganda, Assuraf from Senegal, Bekia from Egypt, Farm to Need from Kenya, Octavia Carbon, also from Kenya, Sand to Green from Morocco, and VAIS from Egypt. Only Nigeria has up to three startups in the cohort.  

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Catalyst Fund to invest in 10 African startups

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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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Catalyst Fund announces $2 million investment into 10 startups accelerating Africa’s adaptation and resilience to climate change

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NAIROBI, Kenya, 10 January 2023 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Today pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator Catalyst Fund announced a $2 million investment into 10 startups building solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa. This is the inaugural cohort of the new $30M VC fund of Catalyst Fund, anchored by financial sector development agency FSD Africa, aimed at supporting early-stage founders to develop technology that will make Africa more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Each of the 10 startups will be offered $100K of equity investments as well as $100K of hands-on venture-building support.

These companies will join Catalyst Fund’s existing portfolio of 61 startups across emerging markets and receive capital, bespoke and expert-led venture-building support, and direct connections with investors, corporate innovators and talent networks that can help them scale. Catalyst Fund’s portfolio companies have raised over US$640 million in follow-on funding to date, and currently serve more than 14 million individuals and MSMEs globally.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with ten groundbreaking African startups working to build a more resilient and sustainable future,” said Maelis Carraro, Managing Partner of Catalyst Fund. “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. From agtech 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.”

The ten companies joining this next cohort of Catalyst Fund are:

Agro Supply [Uganda]: a mobile layaway system that helps farmers save money gradually using their mobile phones and to cash out in order to purchase farm inputs such as hybrid (drought-resistant) seeds, from maize to sorghum, sunflower and soybean during the planting season.

Assuraf [Senegal]: a digital insurtech platform offering end-users access to a range of insurance products (e.g. agriculture, automotive, health, housing, natural disasters) from over 20+ insurance companies with a fully integrated claims management system.

Bekia [Egypt]: a tech-enabled waste collection solution enabling companies and households to exchange their waste (plastic, paper, electronics, metals, cooking oil) against a financial incentive paid on a digital wallet.

Eight Medical [Nigeria]: a cloud-native Emergency Medical Services (EMS) platform that provides on-demand urgent care when and where it is needed. This “911 for Africa” connects emergency medical responders on motorcycles to users in distress in 10 minutes or less, including for climate-induced crises.

Farm to Feed [Kenya]: a food supply chain company that is providing a digitally-enabled solution to food loss/waste. Their climate-smart solution focuses on providing a market for imperfect and surplus produce from farmers, contributing to food security and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

Farmz2U [Nigeria, Kenya]: an agtech enterprise driving sustainable agriculture. Through Farmz2U, farmers can access personalized farming advice (especially on regenerative farming practices), affordable credit, quality and traceable inputs, and direct buyers for their harvest.

Octavia Carbon [Kenya]: the Global South’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) company that is building the world’s lowest-cost DAC hub. Octavia is currently building DAC machinery to capture carbon from the air for resale as either carbon dioxide or carbon credits to off-takers.

PaddyCover [Nigeria]: works with established insurers and digital platforms to design and offer bespoke products via their platform that facilitates flexible insurance packages, including health, life and, in the future, index-based crop insurance. The offerings are built into the lifestyle touchpoints of the customer, either as a convenience or as complementary value-adds.

Sand to Green [Morocco]: transforms deserts into cultivable land using agroforestry methodology and a solar-powered desalination system to design climate-smart regenerative farms.

VAIS [Egypt]: a precision agtech startup committed to climate resilience and food security by providing data intelligence to farms via their FarmGATE application, which is powered by proprietary artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML)-based virtual field probing (VFP) technology, to enable better use of water and other farm inputs to produce better yields.

“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,” said Juliet Munro, Director of Digital Economy at FSD Africa. “These companies are strong examples of the innovation we need to enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities in across the continent.”

“COP27 in Egypt this year called for more private sector financing to fill the >$330B funding gap for adaptation and resilience by 2030. It also 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. We are also thrilled to be backing companies in Francophone Africa and Northern Africa for the first time. We intend to back many more startups like them across the African continent in the years to come,” said Aaron Fu, Partner at Catalyst Fund.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Catalyst Fund

About the Catalyst Fund 

The Catalyst Fund is a pre-seed VC fund and accelerator backing high-impact tech startups that seek to improve the resilience of underserved, climate-vulnerable communities. We partner with mission-driven founders that share our vision of a world where every individual has the tools and opportunities they need to thrive.

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