Three Nigerian tech startups, PaddyCover, Farmz2U, and Eight Medical, have secured a total of $600,000 from pre-seed venture capital and accelerator Catalyst Fund.
This breaks down to $200,000 each for each of the three startups to scale their businesses.
The funding was part of a $2 million investment into 10 startups building solutions to improve the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in Africa.
Each of the 10 startups is offered $100,000 of equity investments as well as $100,000 of hands-on venture-building support.
According to the VC, this is the inaugural cohort of the new $30 million VC fund of Catalyst Fund, anchored by financial sector development agency FSD Africa, aimed at supporting early-stage founders to develop technology that will make Africa more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
Who they are: The three Nigerian startups benefiting from the funding cover insurtech, agtech, and medtech.
- PaddyCover works with established insurers and digital platforms to design and offer bespoke products via their platform that facilitates flexible insurance packages, including health, life, and, in the future, index-based crop insurance. The offerings are built into the lifestyle touchpoints of the customer, either as a convenience or as complementary value-adds.
- Farmz2U is an agtech enterprise driving sustainable agriculture. Through Farmz2U, farmers can access personalized farming advice (especially on regenerative farming practices), affordable credit, quality and traceable inputs, and direct buyers for their harvest.
- Eight Medical is a cloud-native Emergency Medical Services (EMS) platform that provides on-demand urgent care when and where it is needed. This “911 for Africa” connects emergency medical responders on motorcycles to users in distress in 10 minutes or less, including for climate-induced crises.
The goal of the Fund: While expressing the Fund’s excitement in partnering with groundbreaking African startups working to build a more resilient and sustainable future, the Managing Partner of Catalyst Fund, Maelis Carraro said:
- “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 thrive. From agritech 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.”
Other African startups that received the investment include Agro Supply from Uganda, Assuraf from Senegal, Bekia from Egypt, Farm to Need from Kenya, Octavia Carbon, also from Kenya, Sand to Green from Morocco, and VAIS from Egypt. Only Nigeria has up to three startups in the cohort.
