Financing the next harvest working capital and financing innovation for african agtech
Funding for African agtech more than tripled between 2019 and 2022, rising from just over US$100 million to nearly US$500 million. In 2023, it fell by more than half, to under US$200 million. The capital that has come in since looks different. By 2025, debt, grants and other non-equity instruments made up more than half of disclosed funding.
This report asks what makes an agricultural business financeable. It draws on Briter AgBase data, 14 stakeholder interviews and company case studies. It looks at how agtechs pay for inventory, farmer credit, equipment and infrastructure, and why bank lending still reaches so few of them.
Key stats
- US$500M to under US$200M: African agtech funding, 2022 to 2023
- 50%+: share of disclosed agtech funding from non-equity instruments in 2025
- 25% of ventures, 66% of funding: finance-enabled agtechs make up around a quarter of funded ventures but receive nearly two-thirds of disclosed funding
- US$565M: disclosed commitments announced in 2026 by funds with agricultural exposure
- Fewer than 1 in 10: funded agtech ventures that have raised more than US$ 10M in total.Only around 2% have passed US$50M
- US$410M: disclosed agtech funding in Kenya, 2023 to 2025, with around 60% from non-equity instruments
- 3.5% vs 16.2%: average return on agricultural SME lending compared with average government bond yields across five markets (Aceli Africa, 2025)
What’s inside
The report covers the financing structures agtechs use outside conventional bank lending. Examples include Apollo Agriculture ’s local-currency securitisation, SunCulture ’s receivables financing for irrigation equipment, ThriveAgric ’s commercial paper and Hello Tractor ’s machinery lending. An annex has country and regional deep-dives, with lending rates, debt deal shares and financing priorities.
Who it’s for
- Investors, fund managers and DFIs structuring debt, blended and working capital facilities for agriculture
- Commercial banks and domestic financial institutions assessing agricultural lending
- Development partners designing agri-finance programmes
- Agtech founders looking beyond venture equity
Commissioned by Bidra Innovation Ventures and MAVA, powered by INNOVX. Developed by Briter.
