ARAF is a $58MM impact Agri VC fund designed to enhance the livelihoods and climate resilience of 10 million people in Africa. We invest $300k – $4MM in early and early-growth stage agribusinesses with business models that help smallholders in East and West Africa become more resilient to climate change. We look for Agribusinesses backed by passionate world class founder(s) committed to building profitable and scalable enterprises that have smallholder farmers as a critical component of their business models. The fund is sponsored by Acumen and anchored by GCF, and is supported by FMO, the Soros Economic Development Fund, Proparco, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Global Social Impact, IKEA Foundation, and two family offices in USA and Europe.
Employees: 1-10
Founded date: 2019
Investment Type: Venture Capital
Portfolio 7
| Date | Name | Website | Total Raised | Location |
| 02.08.2023 | Tomato Jos | tomatojos.net | $4.28M | Nigeria, N... |
| - | Stable Foo... | pyramidiaventures.com | - | Kenya, Nai... |
| - | Beyond Goo... | beyondgood.com | - | United Sta... |
| - | FarmWorks | farmworks.africa | $4M | Kenya |
| - | Flow Equit... | flowequity.com | - | United Sta... |
| - | Uzima Chic... | uzimachicken.com | - | Rwanda, Ki... |
| - | SunCulture | sunculture.com | $48.5M | Australia,... |
Persons 7
| Date | First Name | Last Name | Title | Location | |||
| - | Dan | Kimani | Associate ... | - | - | - | |
| - | Tamer | El-Raghy | Managing D... | - | - | - | |
| - | Akwugo | Onuekwusi | Associate ... | - | - | - | |
| - | Rebecca | Mincy | Investment... | - | - | - | |
| - | Esther | Mwangi | Senior Ass... | - | - | - | |
| - | Ida | Mwango | Senior Ana... | - | - | - | |
| - | Alice | Mugo | TA and Rep... | - | - | - |
Mentions in press and media 10
| Date | Title | Description |
| 26.06.2024 | IBISA: Pioneering Climate Insurance Solutions for Vulnerable Communities in Asia and Africa | IBISA, a dynamic climate Insurtech company based in Luxembourg, has recently secured a substantial $3 million funding round to bolster its parametric insurance offerings for weather-related risks across Asia and Africa. This significant inv... |
| 25.06.2024 | IBISA raises $3 million to scale parametric insurance solutions, strengthening climate resilience across Asia and Africa. | LUXEMBOURG, June 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- IBISA, a Climate Insurtech company, has closed a $3 million funding round to scale its parametric insurance solutions for weather-related risks in Asia and Africa. The round was led by The Acumen Re... |
| 28.09.2023 | The Week in AgriFoodTech: Paine Schwartz launches $1.7bn agrifood fund, Cricket One unveils new plant, Infarm ‘declared bankrupt’ | Agrifood’s biggest news this week is PE firm Paine Schwartz closing its $1.7 billion food- and agribusiness-focused fund. Fund VI is “exclusively focused on sustainable investments” in food and agribusiness, and the firm has already deploye... |
| 12.01.2023 | Pyramidia Ventures: a “founder on steroids” building agrifood x climate tech startups in Africa | For Ruth Bertens, execution support is critical if startups are to make an impact. The typical route taken in the startup world is an entrepreneur, inspired to innovate by certain challenges, builds a startup and seeks investor backing to e... |
| 22.11.2022 | Tackling the irrigation gap with solar power: SunCulture closes USD 10 million financing round to support African smallholders. | The USD 10 million mezzanine loan contracted between SunCulture, EEGF, ARAF and EDFI ElectriFI will allow the company to expand activity in Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Uganda. |
| 27.09.2022 | BREAKING: Farmerline nets $1.5m from Oikocredit in second close of $14m pre-Series A round | Farmerline Group, a Ghanaian agribusiness marketplace today announced the second close of a Pre-Series A round with an additional $1.5 million investment from social impact investor Oikocredit. The investment is part of a total funding roun... |
| 26.04.2022 | Farmerline raises $13m to connect West African farmers with services, buyers with data | The digitalization of African agriculture is in its early days. But companies like Farmerline believe it’s the key to improving and advancing a sector that supports a majority of livelihoods on the continent. Farmerline, an agribusiness mar... |
| 22.04.2022 | 5 African climate-smart agriculture investors helping close a $106bn climate finance gap | Since 1970, the world has celebrated Earth Day, a day that focuses on green living and tackling the environmental crisis. Through Earth Day, humans have been made aware of the harm they cause to the environment. They have also been enlighte... |
| 26.10.2021 | AFN Africa: Investing in knowledge & information to accelerate innovation in African agriculture | This post has been published in partnership with FMO. The author is Maurice Scheepens, a senior investment officer with FMO’s Ventures Program who focuses on developing and implementing its agritech strategy. There’s a $1 trillion market op... |
| 16.09.2021 | Acumen’s new ag fund ushers commercial capital to farmers’ fight against climate change | Editor’s note: AFN’s coverage of the emerging African agrifoodtech sector is supported by Dutch development bank FMO. A third of the world’s food is grown on farms less than two hectares in size. That food supply is increasingly jeopardized... |