NAIROBI, Kenya, January 10, 2023 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Today pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator fund Catalyst Fund announced a $2 million investment into 10 startups building solutions to increase the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa. This is the opening group of the new VC $ 30M fund from the Catalyst Fund, owned by the financial sector development agency FSD Africa, which aims to support early stage founders to develop technologies that will make Africa more resistant to the impacts of climate change.
Each of the 10 startups will be offered $100K in equity investment as well as $100K in venture building support.
These companies will join the Catalyst Fund’s portfolio of 61 startups in emerging markets and receive capital support, bespoke and expert-building, and direct connections with investors, corporate innovators and talent networks that can help scale. Catalyst Fund portfolio companies have raised more than US$640 million in follow-on funding to date, and currently serve more than 14 million individuals and SMEs worldwide.
“We are happy 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 support mission-driven founders who share their 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 showcase innovation in financial models, technology , and businesses that will help communities better adapt to climate impacts and increase resilience.
The next ten companies joining the Catalyst Fund cohort are:
- Agro Supply [Uganda]: a mobile layaway system that helps farmers save money by slowly using their mobile phones and spending money to buy agricultural inputs such as hybrid (drought-resistant) seeds, from corn to sorghum, sunflowers and soybeans during the growing season.
- Assuraf [Senegal]: a digital insurtech platform that offers end-user access to a wide range of insurance products (e.g. agricultural, automotive, health, home, natural disaster) from more than 20+ insurance companies with an integrated claims management system.
- Becky [Egypt]: a waste collection solution with technology that allows companies and households to exchange waste (plastic, paper, electronics, metal, cooking oil) for financial incentives paid in digital wallets.
- Eight Medical [Nigeria]: a cloud-native Emergency Medical Services (EMS) platform that delivers the emergency care you need when and where you need it. 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 providing digital solutions for food loss/waste. Climate smart solutions focus on providing markets for imperfect and surplus produce from farmers, contributing to food security and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Farmz2U [Nigeria, Kenya]: agtech companies drive 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 crops.
- Carbon Octavia Kab [Kenya]: the first Direct Air Capture (DAC) company in the Global South to build the world’s cheapest DAC hub. Octavia is building a DAC machine to capture carbon from the air for resale as carbon dioxide or carbon credits to off-takers.
- PaddyCover [Nigeria]: works with established insurance companies and digital platforms to design and offer bespoke products through platforms that facilitate flexible insurance packages, including health, life and, in the future, index-based crop insurance. The offer is built around the customer’s lifestyle touchpoints, either as a convenience or as an added value.
- Sand to Green [Morocco]: turning deserts into arable land using agroforestry methodology and solar-powered desalination systems to design climate-smart regenerative farms.
- ACT [Egypt]: a precision agtech startup committed to climate resilience and food security by providing data intelligence to farms through the FarmGATE application, powered by virtual field probing (VFP) technology based on artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI/ML), to enable. better use of water and other farm inputs for better yields.
“At FSD Africa, we believe that by harnessing the power of technology, and fintech innovation in particular, we can help develop climate resilience solutions for Africa, thereby helping to deliver on the core themes of COP27 adaptation and implementation,” said Juliet Munro. , Director of Digital Economy at FSD Africa. “The company is a powerful example of the innovation needed to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities across the continent.”
“This year’s COP27 in Egypt called for more private sector funding to fill the >$330B funding gap for adaptation and resilience by 2030. It also called for more local innovation to support communities in building resilience to climate impacts. The Catalyst Fund’s new cohort gives an example of what this innovative climate solution looks like for the most vulnerable people. We are also very happy to be a supporting company in Francophone Africa and North Africa for the first time. We intend to support more startups like this across the African continent in the coming years,” 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 that supports high-impact technology startups that seek to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities. We partner with mission-driven founders who share a vision of a world where every individual has the tools and opportunities they need to thrive.
Learn more at www.thecatalystfund.com
About FSD Africa
FSD Africa is a specialist development agency working to help finance Africa’s future. Based in Nairobi, FSD Africa’s team of financial sector experts works with governments, business leaders, regulators, and policy makers to design and build ambitious programs that make financial markets work better for everyone. Established in 2012, FSD Africa was incorporated as a non-profit company limited by guarantee in Kenya. It was financed by British aid from the British government.
For more information, visit: https://www.fsdafrica.org
For further inquiries:
Catalyst Fund
Keeya-Lee Ayre,
Head of Communications & Marketing,
kayre@thecatalystfund.com
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