Grace Ashiru
Novastar Ventures, a pan-African venture capital firm, has received a $25 million equity investment from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for its Africa People + Planet Fund, which aims to assist startups in developing agriculture and climate solutions.
Novastar’s new fund will put money into climate tech, clean tech, markets, and projects that help communities stay strong by providing financial and supply chain services.
The venture capital company wants to back cleantech startups that use clean utilities, electric transportation, smart logistics, and alternative materials.
The venture capital company wants to back cleantech startups that use clean utilities, electric transportation, smart logistics, and alternative materials.
It also wants to back climate tech startups that use regenerative forestry, agriculture, aquaculture, biofuels, and biochar, which protect biodiversity and improve soil health while capturing carbon.
This is Novastar’s third fund. It comes after the $80 million East Africa Fund and the $108 million Africa Fund II, which helped the company reach West Africa. Novastar invests in tech-enabled mass-market startups in fields like agriculture, education, and green energy that don’t need to be connected to the grid.
Its last fund put money into companies like the e-commerce company TradeDepot, the fintech company Moniepoint, the insurtech company Turaco, the furniture company MoKo, the health-tech company mpharma, and the agtech company iProcure.
