For the last 6-7 years, funding for the Agritech industry has increased across the African continent and has risen year after year. The major hotspots include South Africa and Kenya.
The Agritech industry is in the 8th rank based on the number of startups, but when it comes to the amount of capital raised, it comes in at the 5th position.
Between FY2015 and FY2020, the funds raised by Agritech startups have aggressively increased; below is a chart that depicts the increase in funding (in USD).
Around USD 59.99 Million was raised by the Agritech industry in Africa alone in 2020. When compared to the amount raised in 2019, it is has increased by 23.7%.
The average amount of capital raised by Agritech startups in Africa was USD 3.7 Million in 2020, USD 2.8 Million in 2019, and USD 1.8 Million in 2018.
In this article we have gathered the top 10 Agritech startups in Africa, which have brought a massive uptrend in the market.
10. Hello Tractor
Founders: Jehiel Oliver, Van Jones
Founding Year: Jun 16, 2014
Headquarters: Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Funding received: USD 15 K
Investors: Founders Factory Africa, Bosch
Described as “Uber for Tractor”, the Hello Tractor app matches farmers who are looking for tractors with owners who are looking to lend their tractors. This Agritech startup was selected as one of the 11 startups to join MasterCard’s Start Path engagement programme. This program provides startups with access to industry experts and infrastructure, helping them diversify and grow their operations and build the business.
09. Bulrush Agritech
Founders: Kristi Rennie, Sean Rennie
Founding Year: 2019
Headquarters: Cape Town, South Africa
Funding received: USD 17 K
Investors: Akro
Bulrush Agritech focuses on supporting the people at the very beginning of the modern food chain, i.e. farmers, with a simple and interactive digital tool that enables increased profitability, regenerative livestock, and efficient farming practices.
The company provides several tools, one of them is Stockman, a digital livestock management software for profitable and efficient grassland gazing.
08. Complete Farmer
Founders: Desmond Koney, Zoussi Ley
Founding Year: Aug 2017
Headquarters: Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana
Funding received: USD 50 K
Investors: Village Capital, Ingressive capital, Westerwelle Young Founders Programme
Complete Farmer is an Agritech startup that functions as a crowd-farming platform that offers an opportunity to invest in building sustainable farms. Its customers can become “crowd farmers” by investing in farms of Africa and remotely monitor them.
Complete farmer also offers data and information regarding how to produce healthy yields and best practices by offering a data-driven way to scientifically improve farming.
07. iProcure
Founders: Nicole Galletta, Stefano Carcoforo
Founding Year: 2012
Headquarters: Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya
Funding received: USD 92 K
Investors: Safaricom, Investment Development
iProcure is Africa’s largest supply chain platform. The company’s platform connects small scale farmers to the manufacturers of agricultural inputs used as fertilisers, animal feed and products for plant protection for organic farming. Farmers can buy all the supplies they need through mobile vouchers on the platform.
06. Livestock Wealth
Founders: Ntuthuko Shezi
Founding Year: 2014
Headquarters: Johannesburg, South Africa
Funding received: USD 131 K
Investors: Mass Challenge, AlphaCode Club
Livestock Wealth is a company that focuses on crowdfunding for cattle. It connects the investors with farmers who require fundraising for cattle. The company’s platform recently extended its services to include a shared farming project that sells and buys grass-fed and free-range beef.
05. Agrocenta
Founders: Francis Obirikorang, Michael K. Ocansey
Founding Year: 2015
Headquarters: Port Louis, Mauritius
Funding received: USD 2.2 million
Investors: AB Ventures, Rabo Foundation, Shell Foundation, Seed Star, Foreign & Commonwealth Office – UK.
Agrocenta, an Agritech startup, fills the gap in the post-harvest value chain. A hefty amount of labour, money, and time goes into cultivating and growing the crops. Even a slight delay in the sale of the produce leads to a heavy loss for the farmers. So to tackle that, Agrocenta came up with a platform for digital food distribution, where the farmers can directly contact the buyers in the online market where they could sell their goods without any disruption.
04. Farmcrowdy
Founders: Akindele Phillips, Christopher Abiodun, Tope Omotolani
Founding Year: 2016
Headquarters: Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
Funding received: USD 2.4 million
Investors: Ajayi Solution, Cox Enterprises, TechStars, GSMA Ecosystem accelerator, Social Capital, Joshapine Group, Hallet Capital
Farmcrowdy is a Nigerian Agritech startup that has been emphasising food security and improving food production in Africa. The motive they always follow is ‘empower farmers with technology.’
Farmcrowdy offers farmers the market analysis tools and data, with cutting edge digital solutions for pricing, decision making, weather data tracking, and GPS.
03. Apollo Agriculture
Founders: Benjamin Njenga, Earl St Sauver, Eli Pollak
Founding Year: 2015
Headquarters: Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya
Funding received: USD 11.2 million
Investors: Anthemis Group, Leap by Bayers, Flourish Ventures, Accion Venture Labs, Rabo Bank, FMO
Apollo Agriculture is an Agritech company that helps small scale farmers maximise their profitability. The startup has developed its own platform, outreach program and app to engage and connect farmers across the country.
02. Aerobotics
Founders: Benjamin Meltzer, James Paterson
Founding Year: September 2014
Headquarters: Cape Town, South Africa
Funding received: USD 27 million
Investors: Endeavour Catalyst, Naspers Foundry, AfriInvest, FMO, Platform Investment Partners, Paper Plane Ventures, Cathay Innovation, AgFunders.
Aerobotics aims to provide farmers with insights by using drones. The customers of Aerobotics get exclusive data and information from satellite and drone images to manage farm efficiency.
01 AgriProtein
Founders: David Drew, Jason Drew
Founding Year: 2008
Headquarters: Cape Town, South Africa
Funding received: USD 122 million
Investors: Twynam Agriculture Group
Agriprotein produces protein and feed components made from waste nutrient sources intended to feed fish, poultry and pigs. The company acquired Milibeter, an insect feed company, in 2018. It is pioneering waste-to-nutrient insect technology to recycle the waste which is organic and turn it into sustainable and premium protein.
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