Kenyan agri-tech startup Apollo secures Ksh.4.5B funding

Launched in 2017, Apollo  builds credit profiles for small-scale farmers using machine learning models. The company verifies the identity of farmers and takes satellite coordinates of their fields.

The startup then uses the data to build automated digital processes for each step in a farmer’s life cycle, from customer acquisition through training to collecting the payment.

The round was led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 and saw the participation of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Yara Growth Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, CDC, as well as Anthemis Exponential Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Leaps by Bayer, SBI, Breyer Capital and TO Ventures Food.

Apollo was co-founded by Eli Pollak, Benjamin Njenga and Earl St Sauver and utilizes a network of agents who recruit farmers and retailers to its platform.

The agents integrate farmers to the company’s platform while retailers use Apollo’s mobile app to handle point of sale, inventory, source wholesale orders and access to trade credit.

Pollak, who is also the company’s CEO, said: “We are continuing to invest in growing fast, serving more farmers, helping them grow their acreage and really hitting the acceleration on the business.”

“That’ll be both continued expansion across Kenya but also expansion into new markets,” he added, noting that the firm is eyeing opportunities in East and West Africa.

The company says that it has worked with 120,000 farmers so far and is planning to double the reach by the end of this year. 

It also says that its network comprises over 300 employees, more than 4,000 agents and 450 retailers countrywide.

The company also raised $6 million (Ksh.689 million) in a series A round in 2020 and Pollak says they have also received over $16 million (Ksh.1.8 billion) in debt funding for onward lending since inception.