The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has made a $25 million equity investment in a new fund from pan-African venture capital firm Novastar Ventures, to support founders building solutions climatic and agricultural.
The DFC revealed details of the transaction and Novastar’s new investment vehicle, Africa People + Planet Fund, during its latest update detailing the operations that had been approved in recent months.
TechCrunch was unable to establish details of other limited partners who have pledged, however sources familiar with the fund said the Nairobi and Lagos-based venture capital firm is aiming to raise more than $200 million, making it in one of the largest funds in the region.
The Africa People + Planet Fund is Novastar’s third group after the $108 million Africa Fund II, which saw it expand its geographic reach to include West Africa. The East Africa Fund, an $80 million fund with a $12.5 million co-investment facility, was its handmaid, investing in 15 start-ups within the region.
Novastar’s two previous funds have financed technology startups serving the mass market in various sectors, including agriculture, education and off-grid renewable energy. commercial warehouse; an e-commerce extension, Turaco; an insurtech, Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt); a fintech, mPharma; a health technology, MoKo; a furniture startup and iProcure; and agtech are among Novastar’s investments.
“Going forward, we look to build on this experience and use the same tools and strategies to support planet-positive and sustainable mass-market business models across Africa that the rest of the world can learn from,” said the Novastar co-founder and managing partner Andrew Carruthers, told TechCrunch.
The venture capital firm said that, with the new fund, it will invest in climate technologies, clean technologies, markets and initiatives that contribute to community resilience through the provision of financial and supply chain services.
“We see opportunities in all three categories, driven by clear megatrends such as immense population growth, rapid urbanization and vast amounts of arable land on the continent,” said Carruthers.
Targeted startups include marketplaces, financial and supply chain services that will “enable market access and climate change resilience for many.”
The venture capital firm also plans to back clean technologies including clean utilities, clean building technologies, electric mobility, smart logistics, circular economy, alternative materials, which “will help decarbonise the growth we will see on the continent in the next 10 to 20 years. Carruthers said.
Novastar will also support climate technologies that use innovative business models “to implement regenerative forestry, agriculture, and aquaculture, biofuels, and biochar, which protect biodiversity, improve soil health, and sequester carbon,” while creating more opportunities for smallholder farming. scale. The venture capital firm is leveraging more funds for cleantech in Africa, which were the second most funded startups in Africa last year after fintech.
