Catalyst Fund invests $1.8m in African climate-focused startups
TLDR
- Catalyst Fund invests $1.8 million in 9 African climate tech startups across 8 markets focused on climate adaptation and resilience.
- Portfolio now totals 19 companies addressing climate challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy access, and waste management.
- Ventures include solutions like solar cold chain system for aquaculture, affordable telemedicine services, and AI-driven climate-smart solutions.
Catalyst Fund recently made an investment of $1.8 million in nine early-stage climate tech startups operating across Africa. This brings their total portfolio to 19 companies dedicated to driving climate adaptation and resilience across 8 different markets: Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
This marks the Catalyst Fund's second round of investments specifically focused on startups working to build resilience to climate change on the continent. The newly added ventures in their portfolio address urgent climate-related challenges in various sectors including agriculture, healthcare, energy access, and waste management.
Among the companies in their portfolio are those offering solutions such as a solar cold chain system for small-scale aquaculture in Kenya, affordable telemedicine services for healthcare in Tanzania, financing options for decentralized solar energy for SMEs, AI-driven solutions for climate-smart inputs and soil mapping, waste recycling innovations, and more.
Key Takeaways
The tide is rising for climate tech (comprising innovations across agriculture, clean energy, sustainable materials, environmental sustainability, e-mobility, and nature-based solutions) in Africa. In 2022, funding to the sector grew 3.5 times to over $860m, making it Africa’s most funded after fintech. It maintained the spot last year as well. And over the past 12-18 months, several VC firms—among them Satgana, Catalyst Fund, Equator, and EchoVC—have introduced funds to support startups in the sector. The timing of this surge in climate funding couldn’t be better as Africa grapples with the increasingly severe impacts of climate change, we write in our Pulse54 newsletter, which explores climate tech and active players in the sector.
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