September 29, 2022
Lucy Ngige
Investments in African agrifoodtech startups reached record heights in 2021, according to AgFunder’s inaugural Africa-focused report in collaboration with BII and FMO.
But who were the key investors driving the $482.3 million invested in 2021?
The 2022 AgFunder Africa AgriFoodtech Report highlighted 10 of the biggest, including Launch Africa, Flat6Labs Cairo, LoftyInc Capital Management and Y Combinator – all of which had 6 or more investments.
DFS Lab, Techstars, Kepple Africa Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Village Capital and FJ Labs were other investors who had between 3 to 5 deals.
This is a sector agnostic VC fund that comes in at the seed and pre-Series A stages, investing in B2B and B2B2C African tech startups.
It has reportedly invested in 108 startups since inception, closing its first fund at $36.3 million in June 2022.
The VC firm funds startups in the food, water, climate and greentech industries, but also invests in fintech, edtech, healthtech, energy, media among other industries.
Startups that secured funding from Launch Africa last year include:
Flat6Labs is an Egyptian accelerator launched by the venture capital firm Sawari Ventures. It invests in startups in the Middle East and North Africa Region and has active seed funds in Egypt and a sister fund in Tunisia.
Just last year, Flat6Labs revealed the second close and increase of it’s Egypt fund from $3 million to $ 13 million. It later announced yet another second close for its Tunisia-based Anava Seed Fund from $3 million to $10 million
According to Flat6Labs, it has trained more than 130 startups. It also has offices in Tunis, which collectively with Egyptian office has trained 440 entrepreneurs and invested $10.5 million.
Its 2021 agrifoodtech investees include:
 
LCM is a Nigeria-based early-stage venture capital investor. The firm already has under its sleeve called the LoftyInc Afropreneur Funds, the third being a $10 million fund aiming to finance 40 companies in the seed to series A stages.
Being sector agnostic, it invests in the agritech, supply chain, energy, healthtech and SME Services industries.
Startups that joined its agrifoodtech portfolio in 2021 include:
Y combinator is an American accelerator that supports early-stage tech startups cutting across various industries. It offers 3-month training programs to these startups and has reportedly funded over 3500 globally at the pre-seed and seed stages.
some agrifoodtech startups to be backed by YC last year were:
 
 
 

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