Catalyst Fund, a pre-seed Venture Capitalist (VC), has announced a significant investment of $2 million to bolster Africa’s adaptation and resilience to climate change. This capital is allocated to 10 African startups, specifically selected for their innovative solutions aimed at improving the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities across the continent. The announcement coincided with the inaugural cohort launch of Catalyst Fund’s new $30 million VC fund, which is anchored by the financial sector development agency FSD Africa. The overarching goal of this fund is to empower early-stage founders to develop technology that will fortify Africa against the escalating impacts of climate change.

The chosen startups span six African countries, showcasing a diverse geographical reach and a wide array of technological approaches. Among the selected companies are Nigeria’s Paddy Cover and Eight Medical, Kenya’s Octavia Carbon and Farm to Feed, Egypt’s VAIS and Bekia, Morocco’s Sand to Green, Senegal’s Assuraf, and Uganda’s Agro Supply. These 10 new additions will integrate into Catalyst Fund’s existing portfolio of 61 startups operating across various emerging markets. Each will benefit from a comprehensive support package including capital investment, tailored and expert-led venture-building assistance, and direct connections to a crucial network of investors, corporate innovators, and talent.

Maelis Carraro, Managing Partner of Catalyst Fund, expressed profound enthusiasm for these partnerships, highlighting their potential to address one of Africa’s most pressing challenges. Carraro stated, “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with ten groundbreaking African startups working to build a more resilient and sustainable future.” He further emphasized the fund’s commitment to supporting mission-driven founders who share a vision of equipping every individual with the necessary tools and opportunities to thrive. The innovations span critical sectors such as agtech, insurtech, waste management, disaster response, and carbon finance, demonstrating a blend of financial, technological, and business model ingenuity designed to enhance communities' ability to adapt to climate impacts and build resilience. Catalyst Fund’s portfolio companies have a proven track record, having collectively raised over US$640 million in follow-on funding and serving more than 14 million individuals and MSMEs globally to date. Each of the 10 newly selected startups will receive $100,000 in equity investments and an additional $100,000 in hands-on venture-building support.

The 10 selected startups are:

Agro Supply (Uganda): Founded in 2017 by Ogwal Joseph, Agro Supply operates a mobile layaway system for farmers in Uganda. This system enables smallholder farmers to gradually save money using their mobile phones, which can then be used to purchase crucial farm inputs like hybrid, drought-resistant seeds (e.g., maize, sorghum, sunflower, soybean) during the planting season. The company aims to redefine loan repayment for smallholder farmers in Africa.

Assuraf (Senegal): Assuraf is a Senegalese digital insurtech platform dedicated to democratizing insurance access. It offers end-users a diverse range of insurance products, including agriculture, automotive, health, housing, and natural disaster coverage, from over 20 insurance companies. The platform features a fully integrated claims management system, addressing the need for improved social protection services in contemporary African societies.

Bekia (Egypt): Bekia is an Egyptian tech-enabled waste collection solution that incentivizes recycling. It allows companies and households to exchange various types of waste—such as plastic, paper, electronics, metals, and cooking oil—for financial compensation paid into a digital wallet. Established in 2017 with two employees, Bekia has grown to a staff of 25, aiming to improve living standards and environmental connections through technology and a partner business model.

Eight Medical (Nigeria): This Nigerian startup offers a cloud-native Emergency Medical Services (EMS) platform, providing on-demand urgent care, including for climate-induced crises. Described as “911 for Africa,” Eight Medical connects emergency medical responders on motorcycles to users in distress within 10 minutes or less. It is building a vast online healthcare community with a mobile-first approach, striving for universal healthcare access in Africa.

Farm To Feed (Kenya): An all-women-led Kenyan food supply chain company, Farm to Feed tackles food loss and waste through a digitally-enabled, climate-smart solution. It provides a crucial market for imperfect and surplus produce from farmers, thereby contributing to food security and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Headquartered in Nairobi, the company is transforming perceptions of food waste in East Africa.

Farmz2U (Nigeria, Kenya): Founded in 2019, Farmz2U is an ag-tech enterprise focused on sustainable agriculture in Kenya and Nigeria. It provides smallholder farmers with personalized advice, including on regenerative farming practices, affordable credit, quality and traceable inputs, and direct access to buyers for their harvest. The company envisions empowering the next generation of Sub-Saharan African farmers with data to enhance food sustainability.

Octavia Carbon (Kenya): Kenya’s Octavia Carbon is the Global South’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) company, aiming to construct the world’s lowest-cost DAC hub. Octavia builds DAC machinery to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air, which can then be resold as CO2 or carbon credits. A single car-sized DACC machine can absorb as much CO2 as 10 hectares (25 acres) of forest. The mission is to leverage Kenya’s unique resources for DACC advancements.

Paddy Cover (Nigeria): Nigeria’s Paddy Cover collaborates with established insurers and digital platforms to create and offer bespoke, flexible insurance packages. These include health, life, and future index-based crop insurance. The offerings are integrated into customers' lifestyle touchpoints as conveniences or value-adds, enabling the creation of tailored products to fit specific prices and needs for its aggregator customers.

Sand to Green (Morocco): This Moroccan startup is dedicated to transforming desert land into cultivable areas. It utilizes an agroforestry methodology combined with a solar-powered desalination system to design climate-smart regenerative farms. The company’s mission is centered on “cultivating the deserts to better feed the women and men of the world by preserving nature.”

VAIS (Egypt): Founded in 2020, VAIS is an Egyptian precision ag-tech startup committed to climate resilience and food security. It delivers data intelligence to farms via its FarmGATE application, powered by proprietary artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML)-based virtual field probing (VFP) technology. This technology optimizes water usage and other farm inputs, leading to improved yields. VAIS is a leader in precision agriculture and geospatial intelligence in Africa and the MENA region.

Juliet Munro, Director of Digital Economy at FSD Africa, concluded the press statement by noting that these companies exemplify the innovation essential for Africa to enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities. She affirmed, “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.”