Ghana: Agtech platform raises $790,000 pre-series A funding
Ghana’s AgroCenta has secured $790,000 pre-series A funding from Shell Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation. The funding will enable AgroCenta to scale its agri-tech ecosystem and secure crop purchases from smallholder farmers.
Founded in 2016, AgroCenta operates a mobile merchanting platform which provides market information, storage and delivery solutions and financial services to smallholder farmers in Ghana.
The lack of basic data that enables KYC (know your customer) and a limited or non-existent credit history means that smallholders have very limited access to finance. This prevents them from being able to utilise all of their land for growing crops or forces them to resort to using lower quality inputs — leading to stagnation at the bottom of the pyramid.
Through AgroCenta’s CropChain platform, smallholder farmers can execute transactions with accurate information. Since the app’s launch, the average CropChain farmer’s income has increased by about 35%.
Francis Obirikorang, AgroCenta’s CEO and co-founder, Michael Ocansey highlight the importance and criticality of this investment, “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the Covid-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission. The demand for agricultural raw materials from offtakers in the brewery, manufacturing and consumer sector is increasing exponentially because of the easing of the Covid-19 restrictions that were put in place by the government of Ghana, hence this capital injection will help to secure purchases at fair and transparent prices from smallholders – a much-needed lifeline for many who are at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid.”
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