Catalyst Fund

📢 We're excited to see Catalyst Fund featured in the World Bank's flagship report, "Rising to the Challenge," as a catalyst for #climateadaptation and resilience (A&R) solutions in Africa! 🎉 Our investment approach empowers founders working on climate innovations to reach underserved communities with solutions that are both impactful and scalable. Check out the report now to learn more about our impact and how innovators are driving resilience: https://lnkd.in/eTxwFRUr Maelis Carraro, Rasima Swarup, Maxime Bayen Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Valiullah Hashmi, Sydney Thiam, Maureen K., Charles I. Nweke

🤔 Will you be attending the World Agritech Innovation Summit on December 9-10, 2024? Our very own Maxime Bayen will be there, participating in a roundtable discussion addressing the challenges facing Africa's agri-food sector. Agriculture accounts for 30% of Africa's GDP and employs 60% of its labor force, yet it is increasingly strained by climate change. Despite this significant impact, agri-food start-ups have received less than 5% of the $18.5 billion raised by African start-ups since 2019, as reported in Africa: The Big Deal. This session will explore how the industry can better support this underfunded sector, highlighting strategies to de-risk agtech investments and attract capital towards Africa's transition to climate-resilient agricultural and food systems. Book your place now to join the discussion. https://lnkd.in/eQ5AwUQa Maelis Carraro, Rasima Swarup, Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Valiullah Hashmi, Sydney Thiam, Maureen K., Charles I. Nweke.

#goodread 📚 💡 👇 When Assuraf | Insurance, Simply launched in Senegal, founder Souleymane Gning knew that appealing to users would make or break his company. He started with a fundamental principle: keep insurance simple and transparent to improve the resilience of underserved and vulnerable people. In our quest to help Assuraf build trust with users, Catalyst Fund venture-builders set out to create a mascot for the insurtech. Our team realized that a mascot could address low awareness by educating users about insurance in an approachable, friendly fashion, breaking down the formality and jargon that turns off new users. Read more about the mascot creation journey: https://lnkd.in/d3EiUfhx #venturebuilding #insuretech #goodreads Maelis Carraro, Maxime Bayen, Rasima Swarup, Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Gabriel Abagalana, Valiullah Hashmi, Sydney Thiam, Maureen K., Charles I. Nweke.

Could climate tech be the new fintech in Africa? Our "Investing in Climate Tech Innovation in Africa" report, released in December 2023, digs deeper into the state of climate innovation on the continent, including insights into sector, technology, target users, geography, and founder characteristics. Some key insights: We found that agriculture 🌽 and energy ⚡ startups make up the bulk of activity on the continent, though agriculture is more prevalent in early stages while energy startups are better able to raise venture capital. Data from Africa: The Big Deal shows that nearly 75% of funding for climate tech startups in 2022 went to energy and water startups. We also found that, although funding for climate tech ventures is growing more robustly than other sectors, it still falls short of the financing needed for African countries to meet their climate ambitions. Overall climate financing would need to grow from current levels of approximately $30 billion a year to nearly $300 billion 📈. Download the report: https://lnkd.in/eEmr_xqz Maelis Carraro, Maxime Bayen, Rasima Swarup, Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Gabriel Abagalana, Valiullah Hashmi, Sydney Thiam, Maureen K., Charles I. Nweke.

📚 👉 This Landscape of Climate Finance 2024 Report, conducted by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and commissioned by FSD Africa, reveals significant trends in climate finance across the continent🌍. Notably, climate finance flows in Africa grew by 48%, reaching US$44 billion in 2021/2022, up from US$30 billion in 2019/2020. Download the report: https://lnkd.in/d8Xe3SM2 Africa: The Big Deal, Max Cuvellier Giacomelli, Maxime Bayen, Maelis Carraro

Friday #goodread to get the weekend started📚💡IYMI: Across Africa 🌍, small and medium businesses (SMBs) already grappling with unreliable electricity infrastructure face deepening energy access challenges due to climate change. In Nigeria, businesses face an unstable electrical supply, with the nation's grid collapsing 46 times from 2017 to 2023. Earthbond meets this need by offering a clean energy marketplace matching SMBs with financing for solar assets and installation providers tailored to their budgets and energy needs. Their platform makes solar energy financing accessible to overlooked SMBs via partnerships with banks, micro-lenders, and solar companies. Here’s why we invested in Earthbond: https://lnkd.in/diVVgsmJ #whyweinvested #solarenergy #climateresilience Chidalu Onyenso, Maelis Carraro, Maxime Bayen, Rasima Swarup, Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Gabriel Abagalana, Valiullah Hashmi, Sydney Thiam, Maureen K., Charles I. Nweke.

Earlier this year, we partnered with 60 Decibels to provide an in-depth understanding of Eight Medical | Techstars ‘23 customers, their profiles, the outcomes their experience, how satisfied they are, and their resilience to shocks 🚀 ✨ Some of the key takeaways included: 👉 78% of their custimers say they are more likely to seek treatment for medical issues because of Eight Medical. This is likely due to their limited access to similar services with 67% saying they were accessing such services for the first time. 👉 Eight Medical provides convinient and cost-effective medical services with 82% of customers rate the convenience of engaging with Eight Medical as 'very good' and 'good' 📈 🚑 We are proud to have invested in Eight Medical | Techstars ‘23, a cloud-native EMS platform that provides on-demand urgent care when and where it is needed. Learn more about their business: https://lnkd.in/e3RiFj8X Congratulations to Ibukun Tunde-Oni and the entire team for their amazing work in the health sector 🙌 Maelis Carraro, Maxime Bayen, Rasima Swarup, Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Valiullah Hashmi, Sydney Thiam, Maureen K., Charles I. Nweke.

We're still on the look out 🧐! Are you building a startup in Africa in one of these sectors👇 💧 WaterTech and Water Intelligence Solutions 🌿 Financing Solutions for Regenerative Agriculture 🌳 Precision Reforestation ♻ Alternative Materials (esp. to plastic) 🌊 Coastal Resilience Technologies We are looking to invest in and accelerate pre-seed startups in Africa working on such solutions, if you know any, tell them to reach out to us today: https://lnkd.in/dMjUv4ga Maxime Bayen Maelis Carraro Sydney Thiam Javier Linares Charles I. Nweke Ngetha Mwangi Maureen K.

We're glad to have partnered with Satgana and ClimateHack NBO to put this amazing event together 💫 ✨ 🌟Thank you to everyone who joined us and made the evening special! Looking forward to seeing the connections made grow into exciting new projects. #ClimateTech #Sustainability #Networking Maxime Bayen, Maelis Carraro, Sydney Thiam, Ngetha Mwangi

Friday #goodread to get the weekend started📚💡IYMI: 🔊 Get to know the team! Kevin Rejko is our Tech & Data Specialist. He brings creativity, passion, and dedication to his work and has a diverse background. He believes that data helps African startups make more informed decisions, and tech enables them to scale rapidly, which leads to an outsized impact 📈. He has also worked on various accelerator programs and platforms leveraging the power of technology for good at BFA Global. Get to know more about Kevin: https://lnkd.in/djSZ_H4C Maelis Carraro, Maxime Bayen, Rasima Swarup, Javier Linares, Ngetha Mwangi, Gabriel Abagalana, Valiullah Hashmi, Sydney Thiam, Maureen K., Charles I. Nweke.