Boosting adaptation and resilience to climate change, Catalyst Fund invests $2 M in 10 startups

A $2 million investment into 10 entrepreneurs creating solutions to increase the resilience of climate-vulnerable populations in Africa has been announced by the pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator Catalyst Fund.

Pre-seed venture capital fund and accelerator Catalyst Fund supports high-impact tech firms looking to strengthen the resilience of underprivileged, climate-vulnerable populations. It collaborates with entrepreneurs with a mission who share our desire for a society where everyone has access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.

The organisation has up till now provided chosen firms with grant financing, but this most recent group of entrepreneurs is supported by its new US $30 million, which is anchored by the financial sector development agency FSD Africa.

The fund is intended to aid early-stage entrepreneurs that are working to create technologies that would increase Africa’s resistance to the effects of climate change.

The 10 businesses chosen for this cohort will get US $100,000 in equity investments in addition to US $100,000 in practical venture-building assistance. They will join Catalyst Fund’s current portfolio of 61 companies from developing economies, where they will get funding, specialized, expert-led venture development assistance, and direct access to investors, corporate innovators, and talent networks that may help them expand.

Three of the chosen businesses are from Nigeria: the startup Farmz2U, which focuses on sustainable agriculture, the insurtech platform PaddyCover, and the cloud-native EMS platform Eight Medical.

Two of them are from Kenya—Farm to Feed, a startup in the food supply chain, and Octavia Carbon, a Direct Air Capture (DAC) company—and two more are from Egypt—the tech-enabled garbage collection service Bekia and the precision agri-tech business VAIS.

The cohort is completed by the agroforestry firm Sand to Green, the Senegalese insurtech platform Assuraf, and the mobile layaway system Agro Supply from Uganda.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with 10 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 agri-tech 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.”