Nigerian agtech startup Releaf has raised $3.3 million in a pre-Series A funding round, which was led by Samurai Incubate Africa and also included investments from Consonance Investment Managers, Stephen Pagliuca, Chairman of Bain Capital, and Jeff Ubben, Founder of Inclusive Capital Partners. Releaf, which builds technology for the oil palm industry, previously raised funds in a seed round in 2021, which was also led by Samurai Incubate Africa and included participation from Consonance Investment Managers and Pagliuca.
The startup has developed a palm nut deshelling machine called Kraken, which has a weekly processing capacity of 500 metric tons with 95% accuracy. A portable version called Kraken II has since been released, which is half the cost of its predecessor and can be transported to distant locations, increasing profitability by up to three times. Releaf has also developed a geospatial mapping application called SITE, which uses data on soil type, rainfall, farmer productivity, and third-party data to improve business decisions such as where-to-site operations.
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