Apollo, a Kenya-based agritech startup, has secured a $1 million debt financing to help small-scale farmers.
The Agri-Business Capital Fund (ABC Fund), a blended finance impact funding platform, led the funding round.
The Agritech startup had raised more than $10 million in seed funding, $460,000 in debt finance in 2018, and $6 million in Series A fundraising in 2020.
Apollo offers small-scale farmers loans, farming inputs, consulting, and insurance, among other things.
It combines machine learning and satellite data to provide support to customers at all stages of their lifecycle.
Eli Pollak, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Benjamin Njenga, Chief Customer Officer (CCO), and Earl Suaver, Chief Technological Officer (CTO), founded the Nairobi-based agritech startup in 2015 to help Kenyan farmers maximize their profits by providing services such as financing, farming inputs, advice, and insurance to small-scale farmers.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects, the startup claims to have tripled its customer base in the last year. Apollo claims to service 60,000 farmers at the moment.
Emanuele Santi, fund manager for the ABC Fund at Bamboo Capital added, “Apollo is an excellent example of a technology-driven firm that is making a meaningful difference in the lives of marginalized farmers in Kenya.”
Customers are acquired using digital marketing channels, and then are onboarded via the company’s app by a network of over 1,200 field agents across Kenya.
“This funding will enable us to help more small-scale farmers access high-quality farming products, advice, and insurance on credit, significantly increasing their yields and income,” said Eli Pollak, CEO of Apollo Agriculture.
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