Satgana, a Climate tech VC firm backing early-stage startups in Africa and Europe, has announced the final closing of its first Climate Tech VC fund. The fund reached a final close of €8 Million in commitments from family offices and high-net-worth individuals. The fund hopes to empower entrepreneurs to create sustainable, impactful ventures for a greener future.
The challenging fundraising environment have influenced the firm to close the fund early. This is even worse for first-time fund managers.
Speaking to TechCrunch, Satgana founder and general partner, Romain Diaz said, “We launched the fund mid-2022, and we have raised in the most challenging time since 2015. We have managed to make 13 investments and we know that with the current capital commitments, we can execute upon our strategy of investing in 30 companies in this first fund, including follow-on investments.”
Out of the 13 portfolio companies, 4 are in Kenya and include:
- Mazi Mobility – Revolutionizing shared mobility through an electric vehicle ecosystem in Africa.
- Revivo – Increasing the access to quality and affordable electronic repairs in emerging markets.
- Novek – Eliminating single-use plastics from FMCG value chains with an innovative IoT system.
- Amini – Solving Africa’s environmental data scarcity by utilizing AI and satellites.
In concluding remarks Diaz said, “This also paves the way for a new fund in a few years, and it’s likely that we launch different funds with different strategies, maybe one for Europe and another for Africa — but that will come in later; for now, we are really focused on getting this fund right.”
Satgana invests up to €300,000 ($325,000) in startups that are working on mitigating and building resilience to climate change. It focuses on startups with a bias for mobility, food and agriculture, energy, industry, buildings and the circular economy subsectors.
Satgana was recently selected as an Emerging Impact Manager (EIM) for the prestigious ImpactAssets 50™ 2024 (IA 50). This recognition underscores its commitment to driving meaningful impact through innovative investment strategies.
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