CRAF seeks climate smart transformation of Africa’s agri-food systems and the nature economy

We back start-ups that re-imagine Africa’s food systems

Even if the global economy does meet its net zero ambitions by 2050, we’ll still overshoot 1.5 degrees for at least a generation. Under that kind of stress nature, including productive land and water can unlikely continue to support our economic and basic life needs.

Africa is particularly vulnerable. So, we start right now to develop self-sufficiency and resilience against climate shocks, while finding our way back to more sustainable ways of producing and consuming.

We are an impact fund seeking seed stage African startups with scalable solutions to the climate crisis in agri-food tech and the nature economy.

Areas we invest in

Robust Agriculture

We back farming technologies that increase yields, resource efficiency and circularity, helping productive land and waters to sustain our needs in the face of climate shock, and avoiding harm to nature in the name of feeding and powering people.

Bio-Tech & Nature-Based Solutions

Africa imports most of its food whilst also claiming vast wilderness to farming every year; a dangerous combination driving climate vulnerability. Our goal is to advance food groups that are less demanding of productive land and water while supporting economic value chains that protect biological diversity.

Nature & Climate Intel

At the intersection of agriculture and nature-based economy sits the tech stack needed to monitor, report, verify or trade positive climate or nature impact; something which corporates are increasingly required to demonstrate in their supply chains.

Insights

Our theory of change

“We imagine African farming becoming more profitable and climate-smart, producing more climate-proof food, and farmers having the tools and technology needed to respond to climate shocks. In turn, African agrifood becomes less fragile and its people more food secure.”

Today’s Global Food System is Worth $8 Trillion Per Year

It accounts for 10% of the global economy. Much of it contributes to climate change, destruction of biodiversity, unstable food prices and low paid jobs.

We need to reimagine how food is produced & consumed.

How we help

What you get from us

Impact Management

Unparalleled Network

Expertise

Exposure

Founder Support

Funding

Our Portfolio Companies

How we help

Our Team

Josephine Wapakabulo

Member of the Advisory Board

CEO of Downforce Technologies which monitors land carbon sequestration remotely. 20+ years’ corporate, startup and board experience and served as CEO of Uganda’s National Oil Company.

An electrical engineer with a PhD in data standards and MBA from INSEAD, as well as Adjunct Teaching Fellow at University of Western Australia and Advisory Board Member of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

Hussein Heiba

General Partner

With deep Governmental relationships across Middle East and Africa, and firsthand experience structuring and developing projects of national importance, Hussein understands how to align business and national agendas to unlock opportunities.

An engineer from American University in Cairo serving on several company Boards.

Sherief Kesseba

Managing Partner

Founded 4 MENA Agri-Food ventures and invested in or mentored 40+ including multiple follow-on rounds and 2 exits.

Affiliated mentor to leading global Ag-Tech accelerators and VC funds RockStart, Startup Wise Guys and The One Initiative as well as African Business Heroes.

Brian Lukera Wambani

Investment Committee

Moustafa Rehan

Venture Partner

Founder of Novaroma and a serial Agri-entrepreneur in Canada and Africa who has farmed, processed & exported crops and designed and operated innovative extraction processes.

A voracious follower of avant-garde global trends in regenerative land and sea farming, he searches for an economic transition to food systems that support ecological cycles.

Nouran Sayed

Junior Administrator

Managing most of our back office, Nouran comes from a strongly operational and administrative background within large companies including Compass International and Hassan Allam. She brings the capacity to manage large and variable workloads.

Richard Georg Engström

Member of the Advisory Board

He has been part of the Nordic business innovation ecosystem for almost 30 years – as serial entrepreneur, investor and advisor.

Since 2015 he and his team have assessed 7,000+ startups with sustainable solutions, founded Nordic Impact Business Summit and built a community of almost 500 international impact investors.

Salma Nour Eldin

Investment Analyst

Salma graduated from the American University in Cairo with a B.A. in Economics and Middle East Studies. Before graduating, she interned as a research and governance analyst at consulting firms Development Business Associates and later the National Management Institute, as well as a portfolio analyst for Flat6Labs, a regional accelerator fund.

Hossam Allam

Managing Partner

Best known for founding Cairo Angels’ syndicate, startup incubator and venture fund, he is one of the region’s most experienced angels. He is a marine scientist by education who has built two 20X ventures, invested in almost 40 others, serves on 9 startup Boards, a small-cap mineral exploration company, Egyptian conglomerate Hassan Allam Holdings and two NGOs.

Tamara Abdelal

Marketing Associate

Tara Norton

Industry Advisor

Tatiana Pachon

Member of the Advisory Board

Chief Operating Officer for Forestry First, Colombia’s leading commercial forester, Tatiana brings 14 years of experience from the nature economy and is deeply embedded in the carbon markets.

Yasmine Kamar

Industry Advisor

Ziyad El Hamzawi

Investment Analyst

Graduating 2023 from AUC Political Science, Ziyad has shadowed senior business leaders in the negotiation on regional infrastructure deals providing analytic and project management support. He is interning with Climate Resilience Fund and has accepted an offer for a full-time position in May 2023.

Dawsha

Starting her life on the street before pivoting to Climate Resilience Fund, Dawsha has a nose for inauthentic ideas … and people. She embodies the grit, hustle and competitiveness we ask of Founders and is herself an effective nature-based solution to keeping meetings short and all of us outside of our comfort zones.

Join the CRAF Team. Apply Here

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FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

We invest at proof-of-concept stage, preferably with some traction or revenues. We do not fund research or technical trials and we do not offer grants or technical assistance only.
We take equity positions including SAFE or KISS notes. We like to be the first institutional money and can lead or solely carry a round at this stage. For later investments we will co-invest.
We invest up to USD1.5M per ticket in early-stage startups.

We actively mentor Founders of our portfolio companies but we do not offer mentorship to non-portfolio Founders.

First, we want to get to know you, your motivation, and your vision of the opportunity and risks. Then we want to understand how your idea delivers impact and how it can scale. Does your model support growth and are you building for execution excellence?

Yes, we follow-on invest up to USD 2M.

We invest primarily in Africa but we do have an allocation for “global” startups that address our thesis and region.