Catalyst Fund Invests $2m in Ten Startups to Accelerate Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change

Pre-seed venture capital (VC) fund and accelerator Catalyst Fund has announced a US$2 million investment into 10 startups building solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa. 

Catalyst Fund is a pre-seed VC fund and accelerator backing high-impact tech startups that seek to improve the resilience of underserved, climate-vulnerable communities. It partners with mission-driven founders that share our vision of a world where every individual has the tools and opportunities they need to grow. 

So far, the organization has offered grant capital to selected startups, but this latest batch of startups is funded by its new US$30 million, anchored by the financial sector development agency FSD Africa. The fund is aimed at supporting early-stage founders to develop technology that will make Africa quick recover from the impacts of climate change.

Each of the 10 startups selected for this cohort will be offered US$100,000 of equity investments as well as US$100,000 of hands-on venture-building support. They will join Catalyst Fund’s existing portfolio of 61 startups across emerging markets and receive capital, bespoke and expert-led venture-building support, and direct connections with investors, corporate innovators and talent networks that can help them scale.

Three of the selected companies are from Nigeria, namely cloud-native Emergency Medical Services (EMS) platform Eight Medical, sustainable agriculture startup Farmz2U, and insurtech platform PaddyCover. Two are from Kenya, in the shape of food supply chain startup Farm to Feed and Direct Air Capture (DAC) company Octavia Carbon, and another two are from Egypt – tech-enabled waste collection solution Bekia and precision agri-tech startup VAIS.

Ugandan mobile layaway system Agro Supply, Senegalese insurtech platform Assuraf, and agroforestry startup Sand to Green complete the cohort.

“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 grow. 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.”