Startups in the Ag Marketplaces & Fintech category have taken the top spot in funding in recent months, surpassing the Midstream Tech category in 2023 and bringing in $65 million, or 41% of total investment on the continent until present in 2024* according to the report recently published by AgFunder. Africa Agri-Food Technology Investment Report 2024. (Disclosure, AgFunder is the parent company of AgFunderNews.)
A few large deals helped push the total up in the category that represented a smaller amount of deal activity, with 17 deals closing – or 36% of the 47 African agritech deals closed so far this year. Kenya was the best performing country both in terms of volume, with $40 million (62%), and number of transactions, with 8 transactions (47%).
Digital platforms play a crucial role in the development of the agri-food technology ecosystem in Africa, revolutionizing delivery across sectors, strengthening networks that connect farmers to retailers and consumers or service providers, often eliminating middlemen and reducing costs while improving efficiency. Across industries, these digital marketplaces have become powerful engines of commerce, offering everything from financial services and credit scoring to personalized data analytics. Farmers can now access real-time weather updates and market prices, while consumers access payment systems and social media, all through unified platform interfaces that have fundamentally transformed the way services are provided and consumed.
*The deadline for data from the AFN Africa Agribusiness Investment Report was August 16, 2024.
Financing in Africa over the last 5 years for upstream supply chain categories:
Ag Marketplaces & Fintech was already the top category in 2023, when it raised 27% of total funding and 17% of deals across all categories; and this despite a 60% drop in funding from one year to the next. This decline must, however, be put into perspective: the year was marked by a 62% drop in total funding across the continent.
Over a 10-year period – 2014 and 2023 – the category closed the highest number of deals (198), accounting for 21% of all deals. For dollar funding, it is the second most active with 24% of the $2.2 billion total, or $544 million. Midstream Technologies raised the most funding over these 10 years with $579 million (26%).
Kenya was the leading country for agricultural markets and fintech over the decade, with total funding of around $335 million (62%) across 74 deals (37%), followed by Nigeria with $102 million (19%) for 42 transactions (21%). %), and Ghana with $29 million (5%) spread across 20 transactions (10%)
Top 5 agricultural and fintech markets in Africa for 2024:
- Advisors Pula: $20 million Series B for the Kenyan company offers digital agricultural insurance to smallholder farmers. Investors included BlueOrchard, IFC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hesabu Capital and angel investors.
- Apollon Agriculture: $10 million debt agreementstill from Kenya and a company founded by a mixed team, providing farmers with access to agricultural inputs, financing and advice.
- Full farmer: $9 million Series A raised by a startup based in Ghana offering an end-to-end digital procurement platform avoiding middlemen for quality agricultural products.
- ARM Group: $7.5 million Series B for a social enterprise with operations in Ghana and Sierra Leone, serving over 22,000 farmers with trading hubs, consultancy and other services.
- YoLa Fresh: Funding round of 7 million dollars for Moroccan startup leverages technology and data to disrupt traditional distribution models in agricultural supply chain.
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All AgFunder agri-food technology categories:
