Kenyan social enterprise startup Raino Tech4Impact has secured USD100 K in equity investment. The startup landed the investment for winning a pitch event put together by Raino Tech4Impact Samurai Incubate Africa and Growth Africa.
Raino Tech4Impact which employs technology to equip African communities came out tops among the 11 eleven startups that participated in the event.
The Samurai Incubate Africa pitch event is aimed at selecting regional startups for a fund of USD 3.4 Mn. The event which also saw the participation of Leapfrog Ventures gave audience to other startups such as Bluewave, TalkLift, Hoji, Tovuti, Julla, OZE, Medbit, Uzapoint, and Afrijob.
At the end of the pitch event, the panel, spearheaded by Samurai Incubate Africa CEO Takuma Terakubo, picked Raino Tech4Impact as the winner of Africa’s Notable Startup Pitch Event. Takuma clarified that the startup emerged as the winner because of its impact on the continent.
He said, “In Africa, the population is growing very fast and the problem of food shortage and wastage is also growing and is now a very big problem and the point is how much of a difference, we can make in investing a particular startup.
“We focus on this problem too and we are from Japan where a lot of Japanese companies invested in our fund and then we invest in Raino Tech4Impact So I felt we can have more synergies between us and help grow this business and make it bigger.”
Francis Nderĩtũ, the Managing Director of Raino Tech4Impact in excitement expressed gratitude for being picked as the winner of the Startup Pitch event. He also emphasized the impact the money will have on helping local fishermen improve their livelihood.
Francis said, “I am very surprised to have been selected as the winner, I honestly didn’t expect it because I was very late and I even used a boda boda to get here. I am very happy because this money will go towards helping those people who are at the bottom of the pyramid to compete with a lot of fish imports.
“This money will give them leverage to have an edge in competing power and be able to sell their fish more effectively and at the end of the day be able to grow and improve their livelihood.”
