Participated · Seed · Nov 2021

Founded in 2019, Plentina operates a BNPL platform that lets consumers split payments for necessities such as groceries, telecom services, and education supplies, as well as discretionary items like airline tickets, gaming credits, and e-commerce purchases. The Android-only service has grown its app downloads 500% in 2021, expanding from 30,000 to more than 150,000 users, and an iOS launch is planned for early 2022. Plentina has partnered with more than 20 merchants, including 7-Eleven, Lazada, Shopee, Agoda, and McDonald’s, and maintains a wait-list of over 20 additional brands. Loan terms, originally capped at 14 days, now extend up to three months to accommodate higher-ticket items. Beyond BNPL, the company intends to launch additional data-driven financial services, leveraging its founders’ backgrounds in data science at Google and Charles Schwab. The new capital will fund continued growth in the Philippines, senior hiring, and an initial expansion into Vietnam next year. To date the company has raised $5.7 million in venture funding and is targeting a Series A in 2022.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2021

AgroCenta operates a mobile merchanting platform that provides market information, storage and delivery solutions, and financial services to smallholder farmers in Ghana. Founded in 2016, the startup aims to scale its agri-tech ecosystem and secure crop purchases from smallholders. It won the Seedstars World competition in 2018 and previously raised seed funding that same year. The company recently raised US$790,000 in pre-Series A funding from Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation. AgroCenta will use the capital to develop smallholder inclusion programs and procure crops at transparent and fair market prices to service offtake contracts. Leadership described the investment as a significant milestone amid the COVID-19 backdrop and rising demand from brewery, manufacturing, and consumer off-takers. AgroCenta operates an online marketplace that links smallholder farmers to buyers across broader geographic markets. The company was founded in 2015 by Francis Obirikorang and Michael Ocansey. Its core product focuses on helping farmers sell agricultural commodities more efficiently through an online sales platform. AgroCenta attended the Seedstars World Summit where it met multiple investors; three of the seven or eight investors it spoke to expressed willingness to invest. In April 2018 the startup was named the 2018 Seedstars Global Winner and received a $500,000 equity investment. The award was presented at the Seedstars World Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland.