Releaf, a technology company that makes it easier for manufacturers of consumer goods in Africa to access high-quality ingredients for their factories, has raised $3.3 million in an oversubscribed Pre-Series A funding round. The new funding will support the launch of two new technologies: Kraken II – a portable version of the award-winning palm nut de-sheller and SITE – a geospatial mapping application that informs the most profitable position of food processing assets.
The funding round was led by Samurai Incubate Africa, which reinvested after leading Releaf’s seed round, with participation from Consonance Investment Managers. Stephen Pagliuca (Chairman of Bain Capital) and Jeff Ubben (Board Member at World Wildlife Fund and Founder of Inclusive Capital Partners) also invested.
SITE was developed in collaboration with Professor David Lobell of Stanford University, MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and Director of the Center for Food Security and the Environment, whose team led the refinement of the age identification process for oil palm trees in Nigeria. This analysis provides basic outcome data for the first layer of SITE. The application uses sophisticated geospatial mapping tools to determine the amount of oil palm planted in an area and the annual yield, along with Releaf’s proprietary data on soil type, rainfall, farmer productivity and third-party data from organizations like the International Institute of Tropical. Agriculture (IITA), Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to provide a dynamic view of farming activities.
Releaf will use this dynamic data set to train a Reinforcement Learning Model SITE which identifies the optimal position of the supply chain infrastructure for the manufacture of consumer goods, creating an effective link with the decentralized agricultural system of Africa.
The Kraken II is a portable and low-cost version of Releaf’s Kraken – West Africa’s most advanced oil palm de-sheller. It is just as efficient as its static predecessor, costs half as much and can earn 3x because it can be transported to high-density agricultural areas, removing more than 80 percent of margin-eroding logistics costs. The combination of Kraken II portability and Your SITE The rest and route planning capabilities enable Releaf to target the best opportunities in the oil palm belt of Nigeria instead of being limited to sources of crops within 100 kilometers of the processing site remains like existing food processors.
according to You will stop at AyoguCTO and co-founder of Releaf,”SITE and Kraken II is the next step in our plan to transform the efficiency of agricultural supply chains in Africa and we are thrilled to be working with an incredible group of investors and collaborators to launch these technologies. To make our food supply chain profitable, we need to maximize extraction yield with superior processing technology and reduce logistics costs by bringing processing capacity closer to farmers. Before Releaf, stakeholders had to choose between one or the other – the big factories had great technology but it was so far away that most farmers had basic technology to cultivate their crops. Now we can maximize both.
Africa will represent 40% of the human population by the end of the 21st century and the fast-moving consumer goods market will emerge as the first globally relevant industrial sector. Releaf’s technology is designed to accelerate this industrialization while ensuring inclusive success for the planet, farmers, food manufacturers, and consumers in one of the world’s largest economic opportunities.
Since its launch in 2021, Releaf has used supply chain technology to process more than 10 million kilograms of palm kernels and increase its monthly profit 7X annually. The company has also secured more than $100 million in supply contracts from consumer goods manufacturers, including Presco, PZ Cussons, and others. The company’s value has tripled since its seed round a year ago.
Rena YoneyamaManaging Partner at Samurai Incubate Africa, contributed, “Releaf’s success with the Kraken pilot validates the thesis, and we are excited to continue supporting the ambitious vision to create an efficient supply chain in the African agricultural market. They have added key members to the management team and continue to impress us with growth commercial and rapid technological development. We look forward to more success as the team rolls Kraken II and SITE.”
Professor David Lobell from Stanford University said, “I’m excited to work with Releaf and use tree height algorithms to establish correlations between palm age and height to help farmers better understand their future crops and make better data-driven decisions about sustainable replanting.” There is a great opportunity to unlock Africa’s unique agricultural potential using remote sensing solutions, and I believe this partnership will be a catalyst.