Kenyan Agritech Startup Apollo Raises USD 40 Mn Series B Round

Kenyan-founded agritech startup, Apollo raised USD 40 Mn in a Series B round led by Softbank with participation from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Yara Growth Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and CDC. Existing investors including Anthemis Exponential Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Leaps by Bayer, SBI, Breyer Capital, and TO Ventures Food also participated. The investment comes after a USD 6 Mn Series A in 2020 and USD 1 Mn in debt financing in 2021.

Apollo uses the satellite imagery data of farms and AI to rate the creditworthiness of farmers. The agents onboard farmers to the Apollo platform while retailers use the startup’s “checkout app” to handle point of sale, inventory, source wholesale orders, and access to trade credit. It plans to use the new funding to refine its technology and deliver more products and services to farmers.