The Microsoft co-founder commented on the acquisitions for the first time since he and wife Melinda were revealed as the top private farmland owners in the US earlier this year.
LeapFrog primarily invests in African and Asian companies, with a focus on improving access to financial services and healthcare for low-income consumers.
The UK-based network for smallholders secured funding from new and existing investors including AgFunder, Octopus Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures.
Provivi will use the funds to sell its pheremone-based pest control products to smallholder farmers in Kenya, Bangladesh, and India at cost.
With this aqui-hire, DeHaat – which serves over 380,000 farmers across India – will be able to add financial services for farmers to its platform.
Gro Intelligence CEO Sara Menker thinks that Covid-19’s continuing effects will see a ramping up of food protectionism this year – while climate change will also take a toll.
Governments should recognize the risks of foodborne disease; but to ensure food security, they must avoid excessive restrictions on moving goods and people.
The Lagos-based startup seeks to bring some formality to Africa’s extensive, informal agrifood supply chain, by providing stakeholders with digital tools and mentoring.
Expanding the cold chain across the African continent is both necessary and hard.
Agtech adoption in Africa is limited. But where new technologies are gaining traction, there is often a clear connection to climate impact.
Most ag investment flows to high-income countries, and currently very little reaches the food systems of low-income regions like Africa, with virtually none going to support highly nutritious foods, according to GAIN.
People often ask us if agtech will have a Facebook or Google and we’ve told them to look to marketplaces in emerging markets. It’s also important to us at AgFunder that startups have a clear mission and there’s no more noble mission than uplifting the fortunes of the world’s largest workforce.
The Kenyan B2B food distribution company’s combined Series B equity and debt round represents the largest early stage investment in African agrifood tech in 2019 to date.
Word has been getting around about Aerobotics’ incredible decision support technology for tree crops. Rob Leclerc shares some facts and figures about the startup’s rapid growth to-date.
Kuli Kuli is driving the moringa products market in the US with over 50% of a segment that’s now in 3% of US households.
The sweet potato weevil is a very difficult pest to control and it is a serious pest in Africa. So the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation asked AgBiome if they’d be willing to work on it. They’re now entering phase 2.
To mobilize the innovative power of the remote sensing sector for cocoa, the Rainforest Alliance recently announced the Ag-tech developer challenge – a call to remote-sensing, high-tech and earth-observation companies.
QualiTrace, a young Ghanaian startup providing a track & trace solution for agrochemical manufacturers and farmers, is trying to fight this battle that stems from the lack of proper government regulation on imports of agrochemicals.
Many Kenyan farms struggle for access to quality farming products like vaccines, fertilizers or diagnostic equipment; the farmers also find it hard to attain or acquire sound veterinary or technical expertise, according to Sidai.
Editor’s Note: Maciej Bulanda is the partnerships & communications manager at SmartHectar Innovations, a German innovation hub focused on agrifood and water. Together with entrepreneurship
