- Venture capital firm Equator has closed its first fund dedicated to sustainable growth in Africa.
- The fund will finance seed-stage companies that rely on technology to accelerate sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.
Start-ups in Africa south of the Sahara should be supported in their expansion through a new finance mechanism. The venture capital company Equator, which announced its financial completion with the mobilization of $ 40 million, created the fund. The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), the foundation of the British oil corporation Shell, the impact investor Doen Participaties, and British International Investment (BII), the financial arm of British diplomacy, all contributed to the fund’s funding.
The money raised will be invested in seed and Series A businesses, such as start-ups, redefining important industries like energy, agriculture, and mobility. This initiative’s sponsor, Equator, has already invested in several sub-Saharan African start-ups. This is the case of Roam, a start-up based in Nairobi, Kenya, specialising in mobility, including the assembly of electric motorcycles and buses.
SunCulture, which specializes in solar-powered irrigation, and Apollo Agriculture, Odyssey Energy Solutions, have both received funding from Equator. The fund’s expansion in Africa is being aided by Morgan DeFoort, an Equator partner and the founder of Factor[e] Ventures. “We see a significant gap in support for startups between the first wave of pre-seed funding and the recent influx of capital from larger, later stage investors,” he adds.
This “led us to identify a specific opportunity for Equator to provide both funding and practical support to seed and Series A climate technology businesses focused on sub-Saharan Africa,” the author continues. Equator has opened offices in Nairobi, Kenya; Lagos, Nigeria; London, United Kingdom; and Colorado, United States of America, to quicken the development of its activities in sub-Saharan Africa.