As part of a $2 million fundraising round for entrepreneurs seeking to increase the resilience of climate-vulnerable populations in Africa, Catalyst Fund, a pre-seed venture capital, and accelerator, has invested a total of $600,000 in three Nigerian digital firms: PaddyCover, Farmz2U, and Eight Medical. Each of the firms will get $200,000 in cash, $100,000 in equity investments, and $100,000 in hands-on venture-building assistance. The money is part of the first cohort of Catalyst Fund's new $30 million venture capital fund, which is led by the financial sector development organization FSD Africa. The three Nigerian firms were picked from a pool of ten to receive investment in the areas of insurtech, agtech, and Medtech. The fund aims to support mission-driven entrepreneurs who are striving to create a more resilient and sustainable future.
The funding will assist three Nigerian firms in scaling their operations and developing technologies that will help Africa become more robust to the effects of climate change. PaddyCover is an insurtech platform that creates and sells customized insurance products such as health, life, and crop insurance. Farmz2U is an agricultural technology company that offers tailored farming advice, reasonable loans, and direct purchasers for farmers' output. Eight Medical is a cloud-native emergency medical services (EMS) platform that offers on-demand urgent treatment in as little as 10 minutes.
Other African firms that got financing in addition to the Nigerian startups include Agro Supply from Uganda, Assuraf from Senegal, Bekia from Egypt, Farm to Need from Kenya, Octavia Carbon and Sand to Green from Morocco, and VAIS from Egypt. According to the Managing Partner of Catalyst Fund, Maelis Carraro, the firms selected for the investment exhibit "financial, technological, and business model breakthroughs that will help communities better adapt to climate effects and improve their resilience."
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