ABALOBI is a South African-based, global social enterprise. Their mission is to contribute towards thriving, equitable, climate change resilient and sustainable small-scale fishing communities globally. Their technologies and programs poise small-scale fishers for social, economic and ecological sustainability. They believe in participatory fisheries rebuilding strategies that consider ocean life and livelihoods.

A mobile layaway system that helps farmers save money gradually using their mobile phones and to cash out in order to purchase farm inputs such as hybrid (drought-resistant) seeds, from maize to sorghum, sunflower and soybean during the planting season.

Feed marketplace and precision fish farming app, with optional hardware sensor

Their mission is to close the credit gap in emerging markets through a mobile technology-enabled marketplace while creating a new asset class for global investors. The company plans to expand throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and emerging markets, offering a full suite of mobile financial services.

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A digital insurtech platform offering end-users access to a range of insurance products (e.g. agriculture, automotive, health, housing, natural disasters) from over 20+ insurance companies with a fully integrated claims management system.

No longer operating

Atikus was a SaaS company that helped financial institutions better identify, quantify and mitigate their operational and credit risks.

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Bamba is an online platform that distributes tailored financial products, especially insurance and debit cards, to low-income and financially excluded domestic workers in Mexico.

BancoMaré offers bill payments, top-ups, P2P transfers, TEM Saude, a health assistance plan and debt payment assistance. The platform is accessible via a mobile app and supported by local Kioscos, or shops offering BancoMaré services. They make transactions leveraging their own cryptocurrency, Palafita, currently converted to Real at a 1 to 1 exchange rate. This approach secures payments in a high risk environment, eliminating the risks associated with carrying cash.

The team recently launched a pre-paid credit card for R$ 10,00 ($2.70) / month, which can be converted to mobile phone credit and can be used widely in shops and for purchases online. As well, they are enabling the digitization of small businesses via POS machines, which allow for cashless transactions and digitized accounting.

A tech-enabled waste collection solution enabling companies and households to exchange their waste (plastic, paper, electronics, metals, cooking oil) against a financial incentive paid on a digital wallet.

Biobuu Limited is an East African insect company. It was registered in Tanzania after three years of research on the breeding and feeding behaviors of black soldier flies. The company has focused on a factory model that produces high protein chicken and fish feed as well as organic compost. Our model is labor intensive and perfect for Africa. After developing our first factories in Tanzania and Kenya we are now looking to open factories all across the continent.

Boost Ghana provides digital solutions to support micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Ghana and drive efficiency in the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods. They have a range of solutions for SMEs that include stock on demand at a fair price, access to support services, and access to stock advances for merchants to increase order volumes and sell more. For suppliers, they provide direct access to last-mile retail customers at scale, providing critical data and reducing the cost of distribution.

Boost Ghana is part of the Catalyst Fund Inclusive Digital Commerce Accelerator, supported by the Mastercard Foundation, in partnership with MEST.

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Chipper Cash is a mobile cross-border money transfer app. In Africa, due to high costs and interoperability issues, transferring money across borders is a major barrier for low-income populations who need to send money to family or business partners in other countries.

Chipper Cash offers a free, interoperable P2P transfer platform operating in 7 African countries (South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Nigeria).

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A “plug and play” modular, solar-powered walk-in cold room, for 24/7 off-grid storage and preservation of perishable foods, enabled through digital payments.

Cowrywise is a digital wealth management platform. It uses technology to make financial planning, smart savings and investment products affordable and accessible to the underserved in Nigeria. Its mission is to democratize access to wealth management services.

Crop2Cash provides smallholder farmers with access to formal financing for agricultural inputs, and enables them to receive digital payments and additional access to digital financial services.

Destacame is a digital financial management platform offering an alternative credit scoring system that gives low-income individuals in Chile and Mexico control over their data to build their financial capabilities and access financial products.

As climate impacts intensify, the need for affordable, reliable and clean energy solutions for SMEs will grow. Earthbond meets this need by offering a clean energy marketplace matching SMBs with solar financing and installation providers tailored to their budgets and energy needs. Their platform makes financing solar energy accessible for overlooked SMBs via partnerships with banks, micro-lenders and solar companies.

A cloud-native Emergency Medical Services (EMS) platform that provides on-demand urgent care when and where it is needed. This “911 for Africa” connects emergency medical responders on motorcycles to users in distress in 10 minutes or less, including for climate-induced crises.

ESCALA offered safe, automated savings plans to increase access to higher education for low- and middle-income families in Colombia. ESCALA customers also received benefits such as matching funds from their employers, savings and career advice and discounts at designated educational institutions. ESCALA was acquired in 2019.

Farmart is a customer service and engagement app for agri-input retailers in India, to help them better reach the farmers they serve and grow their businesses. Through their app, merchants can send updates to farmers about inventory, new products, crop advisory and end of season stock clearing discounts, as well as track and manage credit repayments. Long-term, the team aims to improve the efficiency of the agri-supply chain across the country.

The team's mission is to make agri-business a respectable, profitable and preferred choice of profession for the next generation

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A food supply chain company that is providing a digitally-enabled solution to food loss/waste. Their climate-smart solution focuses on providing a market for imperfect and surplus produce from farmers, contributing to food security and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

An agtech enterprise driving sustainable agriculture. Through Farmz2U, farmers can access personalized farming advice (especially on regenerative farming practices), affordable credit, quality and traceable inputs, and direct buyers for their harvest.

6 out of 10 businesses close shop every 3 years due to poor financial management. Flex was built to change that. Flex Finance allows businesses to create a digital footprint and bring expenses and operations online, while receiving insights that help them make smarter spending decisions and over time, save on extra, unnecessary costs. Flex Finance is committed to enabling more SMEs and solo entrepreneurs to make it past their third year, so they can continue to provide the income and jobs that sustain the vast majority of Nigerians.

Their simple, accessible mobile platform allows SMEs and solo entrepreneurs to manage and track their daily business expenses and finances. With an intuitive UI, operating the app requires little-to-no financial knowledge.

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No longer operating

Flowigo provided SaaS services for inventory, customer review and other business management functions, to small African solar businesses in six African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal. They deployed tools such as point-of-sale mobile apps, data dashboards, databases and integrations to enable these businesses better serve their customers. Flowigo was acquired in 2017.

Grão is the first B2C micro-savings mobile app designed for low-income customers in Brazil. It offers an easy way to save and invest, enabling users to set goals, create a savings schedule and access better returns. Users commit to deposit an amount of savings into their Grão account, and Grão invests it in public bonds and other funds to generate interest. Grão also aims to serve customers who have never had access to formal savings channels through an offline cash-in channel.

Graviti brings providers and customers together via a marketplace. Its control meter is pre-installed on solar water heaters by the manufacturer to monitor usage. Using alternative data points, Graviti also assigns an alternative credit score to users and is able to provide affordable financing for otherwise excluded individuals, allowing for pay-as-you-go and pay-to-own models. Customers can make payments using the app or conveniently in-store using Graviti’s barcodes.

Harvesting provides a software-as-a-service (SAAS) tool which allows stakeholders in the agricultural value chain to view, analyze and manage their agroclimatic business risk via precise data collection, data analysis and data reporting, while leveraging data points to better determine a farmer's creditworthiness.

HealthDart’s mobile app connects customers in South Africa’s low-income areas with a network of local, independent pharmacies and healthcare providers. It enables customers to get health advice, and order medication or health products for doorstep delivery.

Hover's Android API makes USSD-based services more affordable to illiterate and innumerate segments by enabling end-users to interact with financial and informational services via graphical user interfaces.

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Indicina's offers an AI-powered credit infrastructure to digitize the credit value chain in Africa. Lenders (both banks and non-banks) can apply a data-driven approach to credit underwriting at scale, providing insights into potential customers that they currently don't have, while de-risking unsecured loans.

Jetstream offers a tech-enabled, vertically-integrated, cross-border trade solution that eases international supply-chain constraints for SMEs across Africa, through instant pricing, cargo tracking, customs regulation transparency, digital payments, and trade financing.

Kandua provides a digital marketplace that connects vetted, skilled home service professionals with customers looking for service providers. Kandua also offers a set of tailored financial and business tools for "pros" on their platform, to upskill them, professionalize their offerings and help grow their businesses.

KarmaLife offers real-time access to credit for gig workers, based on their payroll account, via partnerships with the digital platforms they work for. KarmaLife operates an interest-free subscription model in which the platform or the gig worker can pay a flat fee and access credit equalling up to one-third of their monthly income. The company analyzes alternative data points and payment behavior over time to unlock higher credit lines for the workers.

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Keep It Cool is addressing food supply chain challenges for small-scale fish and poultry farmers in East Africa through proximate solar-powered cold chain solutions. With this solution integrated across the entire value chain, this initiative aims to achieve a 98% reduction in waste, while also enhancing market access and resilience for farmers experiencing food insecurity. Utilizing the Markiti e-commerce platform, Keep It Cool facilitates direct sales of white meat products to fishmongers and small businesses. The commitment to transparent pricing, fair compensation, and guaranteed off-take benefits both producers and consumers, ensuring a reliable supply of fresh, affordable white meats with doorstep delivery in and around Nairobi. Learn more

Koa is a savings and financial services platform that can be embedded in other tech solutions and financial services apps via its API, to help users save more easily with a hassle-free, goal-based interface, and earn higher returns. In sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of consumers struggle to access formalized financial services (wealth management, asset management etc.) due to high minimum balance requirements, lack of visibility and inefficient distribution channels.

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Digital health insurance solutions and preventative care for the region’s growing senior population.

KudiGo provides a holistic, mobile-based retail management solution for micro and small enterprise (MSE) owners, including inventory management, a CRM, digital payments, and an online storefront, enabling businesses to build a digital footprint and access financial services more easily. They also offer their MSE customers last-mile delivery via partners.

KudiGo is part of the Catalyst Fund Inclusive Digital Commerce Accelerator, supported by the Mastercard Foundation, in partnership with MEST.

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SACCOs, or savings and credit cooperatives, create financial safety nets for un- and underbanked populations in Africa, who are often excluded by traditional banks by providing affordable access to savings and credit. Kwara offers a secure online and mobile banking solution for SACCOs in Kenya.

Leaf is a virtual bank designed to help refugees transfer their assets across borders safely. It offers cross-border asset storage and transport via a mobile platform which enables the conversion of cash into virtual currency through blockchain technology while creating an economic identity.

Lami offers an end-to-end digital insurance platform and API that enables companies across sectors to easily offer insurance products to their users, through a seamless digital experience. Its API allows underwriters to connect with consumer facing companies that can provide embedded insurance as a value add for existing customers, many of whom are uninsured.

Mango Life offers life insurance, retirement insurance, education Insurance and hospital medical expenses insurance, and is the first fully digital life and health insurance broker in México. They work with insurance providers to offer tailored and unique solutions with digitized processes to protect families against external financial shocks.

In Tanzania, over 19 million people live on degraded lands, confronting challenges like malnutrition, migration, and lost incomes. Mazao Hub meets this need by empowering Tanzania’s 22 million smallholders with tools to regenerate their soil and double or triple yields profitably. Their platform matches farmers with localized climate-smart farm management advice, inputs, and finance - facilitating climate adaptation and food security.

As climate change impacts intensify, the need for affordable preventative and primary care, diagnostics, and compliance support will also intensify. Medikea makes such services accessible to overlooked Tanzanians, directly empowering vulnerable groups to safeguard their well-being in the face of growing threats. Medikea’s hybrid model blends round-the-clock telemedicine with physical clinics located in underserved communities to make trusted care convenient and cost-effective.

Meerkat aims to improve financial health for underserved consumers in South Africa, with savings at the heart. They have developed simple financial solutions that help consumers gradually reduce their reliance on debt and improve their savings habits, via debt counseling, easily accessible savings tools and replacing their credit life insurance with the Meerkat solution.

MobiLife is Africa’s first 100% ‘built for mobile’ life insurance, using the power of smartphones to bring effective and affordable insurance solutions to low-income consumers. It's appropriately designed for underserved consumers, allowing them to skip premium payments whenever needed, without canceling their policy. In addition to life and health insurance, the team also offers estate insurance, and FoodSurance, which provides weekly grocery vouchers for families if a breadwinner should pass away.

Financial wellness with a multi-tiered approach to build the financial literacy, financial health, and resilience of underserved women

NoorNation, is an Egyptian startup providing decentralized solar energy and water solutions tailored for farming businesses and underserved communities. NoorNation’s flagship product, the LifeBox, bundles solar energy capabilities with water pumping and desalination—all from one plug-and-play unit. This unique solar-powered approach brings essential, climate-resilient infrastructure directly to those who need it most.

Ohm Mobility is digitizing and expanding vehicle financing in India, revolutionizing urban mobility by enabling the adoption of clean, shared transport – starting with 3-wheeled vehicles.

The Global South’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) company that is building the world’s lowest-cost DAC hub. Octavia is currently building DAC machinery to capture carbon from the air for resale as either carbon dioxide or carbon credits to off-takers.

Oze enables MSEs to become better businesses and better borrowers. Businesses keep digital financial records on OZÉ which in turn provides them with the insights and information they need to make better decisions. This improves their performance and enables them to access much-needed formal credit such as for inventory financing. 97% of high-active OZÉ users were growing, profitable or both.

Paddy Cover works with established insurers and digital platforms to design and offer bespoke products via their platform that facilitates flexible insurance packages, including health, life and, in the future, index-based crop insurance. The offerings are built into the lifestyle touchpoints of the customer, either as a convenience or as complementary value-adds.

PayAgri is an agri-fintech startup that brings together key players in the Indian agriculture value chain to facilitate trade and funding flows. PayAgri’s primary platform, Agri Value Engine (AVE), connects farmers and buyers by removing inefficiencies in the value chain, such as middlemen, cash-based transactions and misinformation.

PayGo Energy provides smart metering technology that eliminates upfront fuel costs, enables customers to access modern fuels on a pay-as-you-go basis and allows them to monitor their fuel usage and trigger automatic refills via consistent providers through a smart metering system.

No longer operating

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PayLatr was a recurring micro-credit mobile platform offering interest-free monthly credit to low-income households in India so they can easily pay for retail transactions without cash, credit cards or other pre-paid means. PayLatr was acquired in 2017.

Paymenow was designed to even cash flows throughout the month by enabling access to already earned wages at a flat fee. At no additional cost to the employers, employees are able to withdraw a percentage of their earned wages when they need to, and the amount is deducted from the final salary amount at the end of the month. The company also uses a gamified structure within the app to take the users through a financial education journey and encourage better spending and savings habits in a month.

Pesakit is a platform for mobile money agents in Kenya, empowering them to borrow e-float and add revenue sources, while providing a new channel for digital financial services to reach low-income populations.

PocketFin's digital CRM tool enables local community members to become agents that can help underserved individuals in India’s tier 2-4 cities access a range of digital financial products. With the tool, agents can simplify the process of onboarding customers and find the right products for their needs.

Power is dedicated to providing holistic financial services to employees and gig workers across sub-Saharan Africa. They enable individuals to access earned wages, loans, insurance, payments and contribute to savings, so they can live with dignity, reduce financial related stress, and take control of their financial well-being.

Rukula offers small loans for household consumer durables and electronic items to Sri Lankan financially excluded communities to enhance their quality of life. The company scores customers using a proprietary credit scoring algorithm.

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No longer operating

Salutat was created to help traditional financial institutions and MFIs better serve and retain customers. It offered a customized and comprehensive communications platform to help the staff of financial institutions improve customer relationships and drive customer engagement, using NLP and advanced tech.

Sand to Green transforms deserts into cultivable land using agroforestry methodology and a solar-powered desalination system to design climate-smart regenerative farms.

In Africa, waste constitutes 8% of the carbon footprint, surpassing global averages. Scrapays tackles this crisis through an innovative model that enables individuals and small businesses to launch mini-waste enterprises. Their asset-light approach equips the enterprises with the relevant technology and materials, coordinates logistics and aggregation of waste, and sells the waste to processors and formal recyclers, thereby helping small-scale collectors and households augment their incomes and avoiding disasters caused by litter. Learn more

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Shopa is redefining Africa’s informal retail distribution and supply chain by connecting last-mile retailers with suppliers, and enabling access to stock on cash or credit. Leveraging digital tools and an integrated delivery network, Shopa helps informal retailers to restock and receive delivery within 4 hours, without ever leaving their shop.

Smile Identity uses computer vision, machine learning, human review and local integrations to provide a complete KYC and user identification solution for emerging markets.

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Spoon Money supports female informal traders by facilitating savings and providing credit to fund working capital. This enables traders to transition from precarious livelihoods to more stable and sustainable micro enterprises. By building a financial and credit history for these traders, this can facilitate greater inclusion and access to other relevant and value-adding financial products and services.

Swoove connects e-commerce businesses with accessible logistics services at an affordable price, through its app and USSD short code, while creating opportunities for youth and female entrepreneurs and revenue streams for households. Swoove already partners with MTN and has the potential to be an enabler for the larger digital commerce ecosystem to address logistics challenges.

Tendo enables anyone in Africa to sell online with zero upfront inventory - their platform connects dropshippers to wholesalers. The sellers on the platform are able to source products through Tendo and resell items using social commerce tools, such as WhatsApp, arrange delivery and get paid, all through the Tendo mobile app.

Thola liberates SMEs to catalyze climate resilience and food safety by transforming and democratizing compliance from an obstacle into an opportunity to unlock premium export markets, partnerships, and growth funding while broadcasting their commitment to equitable and eco-friendly practices.

No longer operating

ToGarantido acted as a broker that offered affordable health insurance and discounted health services for low-income families in Brazil through a tech platform that leveraged Artificial Intelligence and advanced data analytics. The firm provided a wide range of insurance products from eight different insurers, offering options and variety to users, and registration was entirely digital.

Tolbi is a Pan-African climate-agtech startup using satellite imagery and AI to enable climate-smart agriculture practices on the continent with data. Tolbi's platform addresses the lack of agricultural and climate data in Africa. It offers smallholder farmers, agribusinesses, and agricultural stakeholders hyperlocal insights into weather patterns, irrigation requirements, soil health, and crop yields. This information helps to reduce inputs and operational costs, comply with new regulations on sustainable agriculture, and promote a net-zero emissions supply chain in agriculture. By optimizing inputs like water and fertilizer, farmers can boost productivity and incomes while adapting to climate change. For example, cashew farmers using Tolbi’s recommendations have increased yields by over 200% in some cases.

Online B2B platform for restaurants to purchase all inventory required at wholesale prices, including perishable goods requiring an adapted (cold) supply chain, and access working capital to grow their business

A digital payment wallet to enhance visibility of funds and collaboration between African migrants and their beneficiaries back home.

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Launched in 2018, Turaco is an insurtech company offering simple and flexible insurance products to customers in Kenya and Uganda at extremely affordable monthly premiums, starting as low as $2/month. In addition to offering insurance direct to consumer, Turaco partners with other consumer-services businesses to reach a larger pool of potential customers and uses technology to distribute its products and verify claims. Its subscription model enables consumers to opt in for automated medical policy renewals which are bundled with their existing payments.

A precision agtech startup committed to climate resilience and food security by providing data intelligence to farms via their FarmGATE application, which is powered by proprietary artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML)-based virtual field probing (VFP) technology, to enable better use of water and other farm inputs to produce better yields.

Verqor helps smallholder farmers access affordable, cashless credit to purchase agricultural supplies, and connects them with a vetted network of buyers. Through Verqor, smallholder farmers are able to formalize their transactions, build a digital financial history and sell their produce at competitive prices.

Wasoko is revolutionizing access to essential goods and services for informal retailers in East Africa by enabling them to order inventory at any time via WhatsApp, SMS or mobile app, and receive free same-day delivery to their store, at below-market prices. Based on customer data, Sokowatch also offers merchants short-term credit to purchase additional inventory, enabling them to sell more.

Wellahealth offers affordable healthcare coverage and financing to protect families from the financial shock that comes from unexpected health emergencies. Their financing options begin at 450 Naira (USD $1.16) and offer flexibility in the duration of the plans while ranging from individual to family cover.  Their core products include coverage for malaria, typhoid and other infection tests and treatments, telemedicine, as well as hospital cash for families impacted by COVID-19.

No longer operating

Worldcover offered affordable micro crop insurance for smallholder farmers in Africa, protecting them against yield loss by using satellite imagery to monitor rainfall and effectively calculate risk. Their product was customized to farmers’ needs and encourages investors to “sell” insurance and make an unexpected return. WorldCover used NOA satellite systems to monitor weather risks and trigger payments.

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Zebra CropBank provides climate-smart solutions tailored to overcome the interlinked challenges holding smallholders back. Their solar-powered micro-warehouses allow farmers to safely store more of their harvest while integrated trading platforms connect them to stable markets and fair prices.

Ziada is a mobile application that helps service providers in the informal sector find more jobs and grow their businesses by linking them with clients who are actively seeking trusted services, as well as providing business advisory and access to equipment rental.

Zippi is a Brazilian online lending startup who is rebuilding financial services in Latin America by establishing a neobank designed for the 30M+ gig and iWorkers in the region.

Zippi's credit card and app help freelance workers to smooth their income and borrow as they need it, with rates adjusted according to their weekly income. The app enables them to track spending and expenses, so they can better manage their finances and plan ahead.

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