Village Capital invests $850,000 in Nigeria, Kenyan agritech startups

STARTUP VENTURE CAPITALJuly 26, 2024 at 1:14 PM UTC

TLDR

Village Capital backs African agritech startups Aquarech (Kenya) and CoAmana (Nigeria) with $350,000 and $500,000 investments, respectively.
Investment facilitated by Village Capital's Reducing Inequalities Investment Facility supported by FMO’s MASSIF Fund.
CoAmana aims to enhance agricultural trade market digital infrastructure in Africa, improving transparency, efficiency, market linkages, and access to finance.

Village Capital, a global nonprofit organization focused on early-stage investment, has backed two African agritech startups, Aquarech (Kenya) and CoAmana (Nigeria).

Aquarech will receive $350,000, and CoAmana will receive $500,000 as part of Village Capital’s Reducing Inequalities Investment Facility, supported by FMO’s MASSIF Fund. To date, this fund has invested $1.6 million across four startups.

“Village Capital is thrilled to invest in CoAmana to catalyze its efforts in building the digital infrastructure for agricultural trade markets across Africa. This investment will drive greater price transparency, efficiency, market linkages, and access to finance,” shared Kavon Badie, Investment Officer at Village Capital.

Key Takeaways

Many new agritech startups have sprung up across Africa, and are finding business opportunities in addressing the lack of infrastructure and other farming challenges. Africa is fast becoming a global leader in the agritech space, with the continent boasting the highest number of agritech services in the developing world, reaching over 30 million smallholder farmers, as of 2021. The startups are even more relevant considering agriculture contributes greatly to Nigeria and Kenya's GDP and employs more than 50% of their population.

Venture Capital

MASSIF Fund

Aquarech

CoAmana

Village Capital

Agriculture

Agritech