Founders Factory, a South African based venture development and investment company, announced that it is partnering with Small Foundation, a Dublin-based philanthropic foundation focused on the rural and agriculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa, to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to build and scale 18 agritech startups across Africa.
The startups can apply to join the Founders Factory Africa Venture Scale or Venture Build portfolios and FFA will invest cash of $100,000-$250,000 and hands-on technical support to the entrepreneurs to grow their ventures. There will also be a team of digital and technical experts based in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and UK available to build and grow the startups across Africa.
According to Conor Brosnan, CEO and Chair of Small Foundation on the partnership, “This is a pivotal time to invest in the growing area of agtech in Africa, which has transformative potential for local livelihoods. We are excited to see FFA’s highly-skilled team work with immensely talented African entrepreneurs to deliver scaled solutions to some of the biggest challenges faced by the sector.”
Roo Rogers, CEO of Founders Factory Africa said: “Technology can create and leverage new information, new tools, new ways of conceptualising, predicting, and working for a smarter, cleaner and more productive future. The potential is massive and is ready to be supported. Together ourselves and Small Foundation will find and support agtech ventures that can be sustained, scaled and, ultimately, impact rural livelihoods.”
Agtech is the latest sector to be supported by FFA, who is already supporting fintech and healthtech entrepreneurs in Africa. To date, FFA has invested in and supported more than 23 ventures to scale across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, which collectively have raised over $7M following their time with the programme. As support grows for entrepreneurs and their businesses, FFA is expanding its team of specialists and is looking for product, growth, and design experts.
The FFA model includes its hands-on Venture Scale programme, which develops and scales early-stage businesses through a bespoke six-month programme, whilst the Venture Build programme builds completely new businesses focused on addressing key agtech issues on the continent. Through FFA, each startup receives an investment of between $100,000 and $250,000 as well as access to its experienced and knowledgeable pool of talent that covers all aspects needed to scale – including product development, UX/UI, tech and engineering, investment support, business development and growth marketing.
In addition to hands-on support from FFA, participating agtech startups will have access to global capital, talent and knowledge transfer through the Founders’ group that includes Founders Factory in the U.K, and a network of world class entrepreneurs, investors, corporates and successful startups across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US.
FFA is inviting entrepreneurs with an agtech focus to apply at: https://www.foundersfactory.africa/