Kenya Agri-tech Start-Ups Lead Africa

Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana are the  top agri-tech markets in Africa and account for over 60 per cent of start-ups that are active on the continent, a new report shows.

The report by Africa’s start-up portal, Disrupt Africa, a one-stop-shop for all news information and commentary pertaining to the continent’s tech start-ups, investment and ecosystem, shows that Kenya accounts for 23.2 per cent of all African agri-tech start-ups (19 companies).

Kenya has been the pioneer market for agri-tech since 2010, but the report notes that there is an acceleration in West Africa over the past two years.

The report shows that the Kenyan agri-tech start-ups were able to raise over Sh1.37 billion ($13.7 million) between 2015 and 2017. According to the report, there were 82 agri-tech start-ups in operation across Africa by January 2018. Out of these, 52 per cent were launched in the past two years.

The report tracks annual start-up activity in the agri-tech space.

Over the course of this period, over $19 million (Sh1.9 billion) has been invested inAfrican agri-tech start-ups, with annual fundraising figures growing rapidly.

Co-founder of Disrupt Africa, Gabriella Mulligan in a statement last week said  that the scope for innovation in the agricultural sphere is vast and that a refreshed take on the sector could unlock huge value for the whole of Africa”.

“The report shines a light on the extent to which the continent’s entrepreneurs are already disrupting the agricultural industry. Behind the scenes, there has been formidable acceleration in the agri-tech market recently, and it is one of the most interesting spaces to watch in Africa today,” said Ms Mulligan.

Start-ups are particularly involved in applying e-commerce to the agriculture industry, with this type of agri-focused e-commerce platform accounting for 32.9 per cent of start-ups, the report says.

It adds that information and knowledge sharing platforms are also popular, while a substantial number of entrepreneurs are focused on delivering fintech solutions for farmers.

A total of six sub-sectors are examined in the report.

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