FASA (“Financing for Agri-SMEs in Africa”) has just made its first investment by committing $5 million to Catalyst Fund, a pan-African venture capital fund supporting entrepreneurs developing solutions to help communities adapt to the growing impacts of climate change, including droughts, extreme weather and food insecurity. This initial commitment helped attract additional public and private investors, allowing Catalyst Fund to reach $30 million in committed capital today.
This first investment marks an important step for FASA. Managed by a team based in four offices (Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, and France), FASA has already received over 100 fund applications at various stages of maturity and built an advanced pipeline of around 20 eligible funds across four main asset classes – early-stage SME funds, growth SME funds, venture capital, and debt vehicles.
About Catalyst Fund
Catalyst Fund is a pan-African venture capital fund and a venture builder, designed by a first-time fund manager, that backs entrepreneurs developing high-impact solutions to help communities adapt to climate change and build long-term resilience. Its investments focus on three main areas: sustainable livelihoods, climate-smart essential services, and climate resilience through fintech.
Catalyst advances solutions at the intersection of climate, inclusion and innovation, backing early-stage entrepreneurs where capital and venture-building support are often hardest to access. By addressing climate risks faced by vulnerable communities, the fund demonstrates that high-impact adaptation solutions can be both scalable and commercially viable.
Catalyst Fund typically makes early investments of around $200,000, and provides follow-on funding, combining financing with hands-on venture building support to help startups scale. Its portfolio includes Mazao Hub, a digital platform in Tanzania providing farmers with hyper-local soil analytics, agronomic insights and market access, Keep it Cool, offering cold-chain solutions to fish and poultry farmers in Kenya to avoid post-harvest losses, in Kenya, Oko, an insurtech offering crop insurance to smallholder farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Uganda, and Farm to Feed, a Kenyan digital platform connecting smallholder farmers to buyers, reducing food waste.
Over the next years, Catalyst Fund aims to improve the climate resilience of 200,000 smallholder farmers, create 3,000 jobs, and help restore or sustainably manage 350,000 hectares of land. Looking forward, Catalyst Fund will play a critical role in the agricultural and climate innovation ecosystem by supporting entrepreneurs with bold ideas capable of impacting millions of lives.
FASA plays a catalytic role for Catalyst Fund to reach scale
Following early support from FSDA Africa, FSDA Investments (FSDAi), Cisco Foundation and individuals, Catalyst Fund had already proven its concept and built an initial portfolio. FASA’s $5 million junior equity investment is now de-risking an ambitious new funding round, increasing the fund’s size to 30 million.
“By backing Catalyst Fund, FASA demonstrates how catalytic capital can mobilize commercial capital in challenging markets. We chose to invest in Catalyst for its high additionality, its team’s strong track record in venture building, and its clear commitment to agriculture and climate-smart solutions that improve livelihoods. Through FASA’s subordinated capital and technical assistance, we believe that Catalyst Fund can achieve an impact otherwise unattainable. We are committed to supporting this exceptional team as they actively invest and grow technology solutions for climate adaptation on our continent” – Mamadou Ndao, FASA Investment Director
FASA invests in Catalyst Fund alongside the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Trafigura Foundation, Blink CV, Shell Foundation and High-Net-Worth Individuals, paving the way toward a final target fund size of $40 million.
Additionally, FASA is providing technical assistance to accelerate the growth of top-performing agricultural startups in the portfolio and to enhance the fund manager’s capacity to measure impact and drive ESG best practices.
“FASA’s junior equity investment was truly catalytic: by taking first-loss risk, it materially de-risked the round and unlocked commitments from senior investors who would not have participated otherwise. Just as important, FASA ran a rigorous, high-quality due diligence and actively facilitated discussions with other LPs, helping align expectations and accelerate decision-making. We’re also excited about the climate-smart agriculture expertise they bring to the partnership and to leverage this for our portfolio. The combination of catalytic capital, investor discipline, and hands-on partnership is rare and was decisive in allowing Catalyst Fund to scale” – Maelis Carraro, Catalyst Fund’s Founder and Managing Partner.
