26 African ClimateTech Startups to Watch, According to Impact Investors

The African ClimateTech ecosystem is quickly emerging as a hotspot for talent, growth and transformation.

It is fast becoming a vibrant hub for Climate innovation and investment, so we caught up with 6 investors who are actively funding the region’s rising stars to hear who they think are the startups to watch.

The shortlist includes startups from across 11 African nations working in:

🌾 AgriFinTech
💦 Water security
🧱 New materials
☁️ Carbon capture
🐅 Biodiversity data
☀️ Renewable energy
🏍️ Sustainable transport

Maelis Carraro @ Catalyst Fund

🇸🇳 Tolbi*
Founder: Mouhamadou Lamine Kebe 
Satellite-based precision agriculture to transition to sustainable farming.

🇲🇦 Sand to Green*
Founder: Benjamin Rombaut
Turning desert into arable land using agroforestry and modular desalination.

🇪🇬 Noornation* 
Co-Founder and CTO: Mohamed M Khaled
Providing decentralized solar energy and water solutions tailored for underserved communities in water-stressed regions.

🇰🇪 Octavia Carbon
Founder: Martin Freimuller
Using Direct Air Carbon Capture to stop climate change and reinvent humanity's relationship with carbon in Africa.

🇺🇬 Agro Supply 
Founder: Ogwal Joseph
Layaway system for farmers to access weather-adapted agri-inputs, savings and crop insurance. 

🇳🇬 Scrapays
Founders: Tope Sulaimon, Boluwatife Arewa 
Decentralised and tech-enabled waste collection platform 

Nijhad Jamal @ Equator

🇰🇪 Apollo Agriculture*
Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer: Benjamin Njenga
Unlocking the potential of small-scale farmers with best-in-class inputs, financing, insurance, and training.

🇺🇸 Odyssey Energy Solutions*
Co-Founder and CEO: Emily McAteer
Accelerating the adoption of clean energy in Africa through a digital platform that enables renewable energy companies, financiers and suppliers to deploy more projects, faster.

🇰🇪 Roam*
Co-Founder and CCO: Filip Lövström
Enabling the e-mobility transition in Africa with products specifically designed to provide low-cost, and low-emission transport solutions for Africans.

🇰🇪 SunCulture*
Co-Founder and CEO: Samir Ibrahim
Tackling a major challenge for African farmers: offering reliable, all-in-one solar-powered solutions for water, irrigation, lighting, and mobile charging.

Romain Diaz @ Satgana

🇰🇪 Amini AI*
Founder and CEO: Kate Kallot
Utilising AI and satellite data to bridge the environmental data gap in Africa to enable regeneration at scale.

🇪🇹 Kubik*
CEO and Co-Founder: Kidus Asfaw
Turning plastic waste into affordable, low carbon buildings in Ethiopia.

🇹🇳 Kumulus Water
Co-Founder and CEO: Iheb Triki
Designing machines that create drinking water using solar power and the humidity from the air.

Muthoni Wachira @ Katapult Africa

🇬🇭 Complete Farmer*
Co-Founder and CEO: Desmond Koney
An integrated platform that uses data and technology to connect stakeholders along the value chain to ensure quality control and an effective end-to-end production system.

🇰🇪 BasiGo
Co-Founder and CEO: Jit Bhattacharya
E-mobility start-up looking to revolutionise the public transportation sector by providing matatu owners with a cost-effective

🇬🇭 Legendary Foods*
Co-Founder and CEO: Shobhita Soor
Food tech business in Ghana on a mission to deliver the nutrition of meat at the price point and sustainability of plants.

Tobias Ruckstuhl @ Persistent 

🇿🇦 Hohm Energy* 
CEO: Tim Ohlsen
Helping end-consumers to go solar with accredited solar installers, product suppliers and embedded solar finance.

🇳🇬 Earthbond 
Founder: Chidalu Onyenso
Leveraging carbon accounting and group guarantees to help African businesses get the best quality solar and financing that they can actually afford.

🇨🇩 Altech* 
Founder: Malango Washikala
Building Africa’s largest and most reliable distribution network for clean energy solutions.

🇳🇬 Beacon Power Services*
Founder: Bimbola Adisa
A leading provider of data and grid management solutions for Africa’s power sector.

🇰🇪 Octavia Carbon
Founder: Martin Freimuller
Using Direct Air Carbon Capture to stop climate change and reinvent humanity's relationship with carbon in Africa.

Abby Stern @ Holocene

🇿🇦 Kudoti*
CEO: Matthieu de Gaudemar
Tracking carbon and resource footprints for exporters / buyers with a comprehensive digital platform that works across the entire supply chain to collect real-time data.

🇿🇦 The Awareness Company*
Co-Founder and CEO: Priaash Ramadeen
AI powered storytelling software integrated with IoT trackers to curate and recommend efficiency and sustainable initiatives based on live data. 

🇰🇪 Koko Networks 
CEO and Co-Founder: Greg Murray
Through its hyper efficient supply chain, it is potentially creating one of the most valuable logistics platforms in Africa. As a climate-focused entity, it will be exciting to see what the next products for KOKO will be.  

🇹🇳 Next Protein
Co-Founders: Syrine Chaalala and Mohamed Gastli
Valourising organic waste into feed (by using Black Soldier Flies), Next Protein now has a 2500m2 production facility in Tunisia.

🇿🇼 Need Energy*
Co-Founder: Leroy T. Nyangani
Leveraging its original business model of smart gas trackers and gas trading to transition to a Virtual Power Plant.

🇿🇦 Energy Exchange
CEO: Stefan de Villiers
NERSA registered South African energy trader solving the one to many (and vice versa) problem with distributed energy resources. 

For transparency: Investors that have ties with the company are marked with a (*)