The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has made a $25 million equity investment in a new fund by pan-African venture capital firm Novastar Ventures to support founders building agriculture and climate solutions.
The DFC has revealed details of the deal and Novastar’s new investment vehicle, the Africa People + Planet Fund, in its latest update detailing the deals approved over the past few months.
TechCrunch was unable to provide details of other limited partners that have made commitments, but sources familiar with the fund say the Nairobi- and Lagos-based VC firm has raised more than $200 million. , making it one of the largest funds in the region.
The Africa People + Planet Fund is Novastar’s third pool after the $108 million Africa Fund II. The East Africa Fund – his $80 million fund with a $12.5 million co-investment facility – was the first kitten to invest in 15 startups in the region.
Novastar’s two previous funds have funded technology-enabled startups serving the mass market in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, education and off-grid renewable energy. trade depot; e-commerce scale-up, MoKo; Furniture startup iProcure. agtech is one of his investments in Novastar.
“Going forward, we will build on this experience and use the same tools and strategies to support sustainable, green, and mass-market business models across Africa so that the rest of the world can grow there. We aim to learn from,” Novastar co-founder and managing partner Andrew Carruther told TechCrunch.
The venture capital firm said the new fund will invest in climate tech, cleantech, markets and initiatives that contribute to community resilience through the provision of financial and supply chain services.
“We see opportunities in all three categories, with clear megatrends such as massive population growth, rapid urbanization and vast arable land on the continent,” said Carruther.
Eligible start-ups include marketplaces, financial and supply chain services that “enable market access and resilience for millions in the face of climate change.”
The VC firm will also back cleantech such as clean utilities, clean construction technology, electric mobility, smart logistics, circular economy and alternative materials, stating that it will “decarbonize the growth we will see on the continent in the next 10 to 20 years. It helps you do that,” Carruther said.
Novastar also uses innovative business models to “deploy regenerative forestry, agriculture and aquaculture, biofuels and biochar to protect biodiversity, improve soil health and capture carbon”. Support technology and increase opportunities for smallholder farming. VC firms provide a lot of funding for cleantech in Africa. Cleantech was her second-most funded startup in Africa last year, after fintech.
