Benson T
Apollo Agriculture, a Kenyan agritech startup seeking to use technology to transform the agriculture sector, has successfully completed its series A funding round.
The startup today announced it had secured $6 million in an investment round led by Anthemis Exponential Ventures.
Other investors to participate in the financing round were Leaps by Bayer, Flourish Ventures, and Sage Hill Capital. To Ventures Food, Flourish Ventures, Accion Venture Lab and Newid Capital were also contributors in the startup’s Series A round.
The startup, founded in 2016, is based in Nairobi. Apollo Agriculture’s founders – Americans Eli Pollak and Earl St Sauver and Kenyan Benjamin Njenga – created a platform targeted towards helping smallholder farmers.
Apollo Agriculture co-founders
According to the startup, farmers can use their technology to enhance profitability, which the startup helps ensure by offering financing and insurance services. Smallholder farmers also get expert advice and access to farming products.
Before the latest funding round, Apollo Agriculture had raised over $1.6 million in a financing round, secured through three investments.
According to Eli Pollak, CEO of Apollo Agriculture, the startup has offered its services to more than 40, 000 farmers since it launched in 2016. Of these farmers, 25, 000 have benefitted from in 2020.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Pollak noted of the services offered to farmers:
“It’s everything a farmer needs to succeed. It’s the seeds and fertilizer they need to plant, the advice they need to manage that product over the course of the season. The insurance they need to protect themselves in case of a bad year…and then, ultimately, the financing,”
