Why we invested

AV Ventures’ investment is part of a $790,000 pre-Series A investment round with other participating international institutions, including Shell Foundation, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Rabo Foundation, with support from AgroCenta’s strategic advisor, Qbera Capital. The investment came at an inflection point for the company, as it widens the reach of its smallholder farmer financial inclusion programs, secures crop purchases from smallholder farmers at fair and transparent market prices, and embarks on a larger fundraising effort to increase its smallholder farmer outreach in the cereals value chain and support post-COVID recovery efforts in Ghana.

Company Description:
AgroCenta is a technology-driven agricultural platform provider in Ghana. Founded in 2016, AgroCenta operates two integrated digital platforms in Ghana, CropChain and LendIt, to help address challenges related to smallholder farmers’ access to markets and financial services. These challenges, notably poor infrastructure and logistics and insufficient access to information on fair market prices, prevent many smallholder farmers in Ghana from accessing large, urban markets where they could obtain better prices for their crops.