Participated · Seed · Sep 2025

Founded in 2023, MazaoHub integrates artificial intelligence with soil sensors, portable soil testing kits, and farm-management software to enhance crop productivity and climate resilience for smallholder farmers. Its hybrid “Tech and Touch” model is reinforced by local agronomists who provide field-level support. The company also operates CropSupply.com, a marketplace that links farmers to buyers with end-to-end traceability. Planned Farmer Excellence Centers will further disseminate best practices and training. With the new capital, MazaoHub aims to scale manufacturing of its soil kits and sensors, expand its agronomist network, and grow the CropSupply.com platform across additional African markets. These initiatives target reductions in fertilizer usage and greenhouse-gas emissions while improving farmer incomes. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Led · Series A · Feb 2024

Ilara Health is a Kenya-based healthtech that enables private clinics to acquire diagnostic devices, pharmaceuticals and other clinic items on credit. The company began by leasing diagnostic devices to clinics in 2019 and has since expanded its offering to include pharmaceuticals, hospital furniture and a subscription practice-management software. Ilara serves about 3,000 clinics across Kenya and charges KSh.1000 (~$6.25) monthly for its software, which digitizes operations and supplies data for reporting and credit assessment. It partners with manufacturers such as Butterfly Network to provide low-cost portable ultrasound devices and other equipment. The startup plans to use new funding to scale operations in Kenya and to roll out a B2B health and occupational service that gives uninsured workers access to partner clinics for a fixed monthly fee. Management also intends to use clinic data from the software to support credit ratings and lend up to $15,000 in working capital to clinics. Ilara Health is a Nairobi-based diagnostics health-tech service provider that partners with healthcare facilities to expand access to basic diagnostic tests. Since its 2018 inception the company has grown partnerships across Nairobi and Kisumu from 15 to 200 facilities and aims to make diagnostics more accessible and affordable to over 500 million Africans. It recently raised $3.75 million in Series A funding led by TLcom Capital with participation from DOB Equity, Global Ventures, and Chandaria Capital to fund service expansion and technology investment. CEO and co-founder Emilian Popa said the company will widen its disease-indication coverage and create end-to-end value across the care delivery process. Ilara plans to reach patients who currently struggle to access lifesaving tests and to develop data-driven insights to improve quality of care across the continent. The new capital is intended to accelerate service expansion and build the company's technological capabilities across its partner network. Ilara Health distributes low-cost, AI-powered diagnostic devices bundled with its proprietary electronic medical record (EMR) system to primary-care doctors in peri-urban and rural clinics. The EMR records patient data and helps clinicians provide effective patient management while the diagnostics enable testing at the point of care. The company says it was started to help doctors bring diagnostics to the roughly 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who need them most and notes that about 70% of patients need some form of medical test to inform treatment. Ilara will use the new funding to grow its peri-urban clinic customer base in Kenya and to build a flexible technology platform to manage and protect patient health and clinic financial data. The startup was founded by CEO Emilian Popa, COO Amaan Banwait and VP sales Hannes Eckmayr and is based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company also received a Columbia Business School Tamer Fund seed grant award (seed grants up to $25,000) announced in late July.

Participated · Series B · Apr 2023

Victory Group farms Nile tilapia on Lake Victoria in Kenya under the Victory Farms brand and on Lake Kivu in Rwanda as Kivu Choice, selling fresh fish through more than 100 sales outlets to thousands of female market traders. The company expects to produce 30,000 tonnes of fish in 2026 and has focused on increasing production and operational efficiency since earlier investments. Founded in 2015, Victory Group has attracted prior capital including a $4 million AgDevCo investment in 2021 and a $35 million Series B in 2023. Current plans supported by the new financing include developing multiple new farming sites in Kenya and Rwanda and progressing early-stage establishment in Tanzania to expand regional supply and distribution.

Led · Seed · Feb 2023

Power, co-founded by Brian Dempsey and Chandra Singh in 2020, integrates with employer payroll and payment systems to offer short- and long-term loans, earned-wage access, insurance and investment options to workers. The platform performs digital ID checks, real-time credit bureau pulls and uses employer data (salary, tenure, contract type) to set loan amounts, rates and tenures, and allows HR to approve or reject requests. Power only lends to employees and contractors of onboarded companies to lower default risk and deducts repayments at source before wages hit users' accounts. It charges long-term loans at roughly 2–3% interest per month and has disbursed more than $1.5 million in loans since launch. The startup has onboarded 75 companies, giving access to more than 40,000 workers and has served about 15% of that base so far. Power plans to reach 250 companies in Kenya and expand to at least 10 African markets over the next three years, starting with a Zambia entry where it will act as a technology partner and has signed a deal with a southern African bank.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2023

Kwara provides back-office software and banking-as-a-service to credit unions (Saccos), automating paper-based processes and enabling new products and member onboarding. Its platform includes a next-generation neobank app that gives Sacco members access to instant loans, third-party services like insurance, and direct deposits into Sacco accounts. The company has expanded internationally with a presence in South Africa and the Philippines and was co-founded in 2019 by Cynthia Wandia and David Hwan. Kwara grew its client base from 50 to 120 over the past year while maintaining 100% customer retention, and its neobank app user base has grown 35-fold since launch. The startup plans to double down on Kenya, invest in enterprise-grade features for larger Saccos, improve the neo-banking experience with personalized goal features, and add more third-party partnerships. As part of its growth strategy it is set to acquire IRNET and has signed an exclusive digital solutions distribution agreement with Kuscco to access over 4,000 Saccos. Kwara, launched in 2019, provides a proprietary backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platform to help credit unions (SACCOs) digitize operations. Its platform supports core banking functions and enables members to view and download statements, apply for loans, and make repayments. Kwara's client count grew from two to 50 in just over two years; it currently serves about 60,000 SACCO members and has supported $40 million in transactions on its platform. Clients using its technology have seen membership growth of over 19% year-on-year and a 46% increase in loan base, and the beta uptake of the upcoming app ranged from 60% to 90%. Kwara is building a neobank app to let individuals sign up with preferred credit unions and access instant loans and third-party services such as insurance, with a full launch planned for mid next year. The company has expanded into South Africa and the Philippines and aims to triple its credit union customers to 150 and cross 100,000 members next year, with a long-term goal to serve 1 billion people by 2030.