(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $40 million funding round for Apollo Agriculture, a Kenyan-based technology firm seeking to expand its business of helping farmers access market and financial services.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Yara Growth Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst are among other investors who participated in the round.
Apollo is pushing to increase the number of clients on its platform and “invest in the products that take a farmer from farming for subsistence to farming as a business,” Chief Executive Officer Eli Pollak said in an interview.
Agriculture in Africa will become $1 trillion market over the next decade on the back of the continent’s growing population and global food demand, according to Apollo. The company is looking to play a significant role in the region’s future by investing in systems to support farm produce.
Founded in 2019, Apollo is a commercial-farming platform that enables last-mile delivery of inputs and services to small-scale farmers using a network of over 5,000 agents. The company uses machine learning and satellite data technology for its input services to the over 100,000 farmers that have joined its platform since it was founded in 2019. It also provides them with financing and insurance services.
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“In the face of sustained macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, feeding the world is one of the most important challenges,” said Alexia Yannopoulos, an investment director at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Apollo’s platform offers a one-stop-shop solution to help small-scale farmers in emerging regions to improve crop and livestock outputs. Embedding valuable financial services like credit, insurance and advice into the supply chain is critical in supporting a more efficient and sustainable global food chain.”
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