Equator, a climate-tech venture capital firm focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, announced the final close of its first fund with approximately $55 million USD in commitments to support Seed and Series A-stage, tech-enabled ventures in the sectors of energy, agriculture and mobility through an overlooked phase in their funding journey.
Equator says notable investors in the fund include British International Investment (BII), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Proparco, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Shell Foundation and DOEN Participates.
According to Nijhad Jamal, managing partner of Equator, “Our deep in-market presence, combined with our global experience and reach, allows us to forecast trends and develop theses that underpin our investments in proven technology and business model innovation to address local market challenges.”
Equator aims to accelerate an equitable climate transition in Sub-Saharan Africa by providing much-needed capital and active hands-on support to climate-tech ventures. The VC firm’s team has decades of experience both investing in and operating successful ventures in Sub-Saharan Africa and has attracted backing from various reputable investors such Proparco which invested $5 million in December last year for Equator to invest in startups addressing climate challenges across Africa.
Proparco made the investment, through the FISEA+ facility to supporting early-stage African start-ups with innovative solutions to address climate challenges across sub-Saharan Africa.
In October, 2024 IFC announced a $5 million investment in Equator Africa Fund I, marking its first-ever investment in a venture capital fund entirely focused on supporting businesses and innovation in the climate sector. IFC’s investment of $5 million comes as part of the fund’s final close, taking its size to $54 million. IFC’s investment is supported by a $1.5 million guarantee from the Korea Green Resilient and Innovative Development (K-GRID) Program, a $30 million initiative by the Government of Korea.
In April 2023, Equator received part of its first fund with $40 million in commitments from limited partners including BII, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), the Shell Foundation and impact investor DOEN Participates.
Africa accounts for less than 3% of the world’s energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to date, but Africans will be among the world’s most affected by the negative impacts of climate change. In addition, the fundraising environment for start-ups in Africa is particularly challenging, with the continent receiving just 0.6% of total global equity funding in 2024, bringing funding to its lowest level since 2020. Less than a third of this capital flowed to climate-related sectors and only ten percent of that went to early-stage ventures.
With teams in Nairobi, Lagos, London, and Colorado, Equator invests in high-growth, ready-to-scale ventures that are driven by technology and business model innovation and has already invested in six companies including SunCulture, which provides solar powered energy and irrigation systems to farmers; Roam, which designs and develops EV motorbikes and electric buses; Odyssey, a data and tech platform for investment and asset management for distributed renewable energy infrastructure; Apollo Agriculture, which provides input financing and advisory services to smallholder farmers; Ibisa, which provides parametric insurance products for climate risks; and Downforce Technologies, which makes soil organic carbon measurement technology accessible and affordable.
Other startups Equator has invested in include Leta – A logistics tech company that helps optimize the movement of goods for businesses to reduce costs and minimize climate impact. SteamaCo and Shyft Power Solutions – A scalable IoT smart metering platform and AI theft detection solutions for managing electricity sales.
