Nigerian Agritech, Farmcrowdy has just been announced as one of 15 startups that would receive funding and mentorship from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund. The announcement was made at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
.@GSMAm4d latest #African #tech #startup investments just announced at #MWC2018 including @ensibuuko @farmcrowdy @jamiiafrica @Kytabu @LipaMobile_ @Lynk_Kenya @Musanga__LG @optimetriks @PrepclassNG @Raye7Egypt Sudpay #AppsAfrica pic.twitter.com/dgHPChgJFU
— AppsAfrica (@AppsAfrica) February 26, 2018
The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation fund which was announced in 2016, provides funding and mentorship to selected start-ups in Africa and the Asia Pacific.
The GSMA fund targets start-ups that are focused on the sharing economy or those using mobile services to provide solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Once a startup is selected, GSMA will provide up to $349,000 equity-free funding to them.
‼️Meet the new 1️⃣5️⃣ #startups from our #EcosystemAccelerator portfolio: MaTontine, Sudpay, @farmcrowdy, @ensibuuko, @Lynk_Kenya, @Musanga__LG, @jamiiafrica, @LipaMobile_, @SehatKahani, Tootle, @field_buzz, Kargo, Neh Thit, Joonaak, @efisherycom – https://t.co/rNpl4sFyHg pic.twitter.com/zk8mprZHDA
— Maxime Bayen (@MaxBayen) February 26, 2018
This year, Farmcrowdy joins an exclusive pool of African and Asian startups that will receive grants from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation fund.
The start-ups were selected after a tight selection process that took several months. Applications for the grant were opened in July 2017 and saw over 550 applicants from both Africa and Asia. Of the 15 startups selected for funding this year, 8 are African and include an array of innovative companies from Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Uganda.
Farmcrowdy Gets New Capital for Growth
Farmcrowdy helps connect farmers to investors who sponsor their farming projects. The platform currently supports about 4000 small-scale farmers in Nigeria and it hopes to double that figure by the end of 2018.
Co-founded by Onyeka Akumah, Farmcrowdy is poised to be an important player in the Nigerian agricultural sector. In fact, investors are certainly betting it would. In December 2017, the company raised an impressive $1 million from investors such as TechStars, Cox Ventures and Social Capital.
https://twitter.com/onyekaakumah/status/968482725941465088
With this capital from GSMA, Onyeka believes the company can further scale its activities “across the country while building our relationships” with GSMA’s telecom partners in Nigeria.
Technext Newsletter
Get the best of Africa’s daily tech to your inbox – first thing every morning.
Join the community now!
