Fuzé, Digital Africa’s investment vehicle, has announced its latest investment in Aftermarket, a Côte d’Ivoire-based agritech startup. Aftermarket is revolutionizing Ivorian agriculture through a two-pronged digital approach.
Aftermarket’s solution focuses on two key areas: precision agriculture and supply chain digitization. Precision agriculture techniques aim to enhance farm productivity and ultimately increase farmer incomes. Aftermarket implements digital tools to optimize these techniques.
On the supply chain side, Aftermarket tackles inefficiencies by digitizing procurement, storage, and customer management. This digital transformation reduces food loss, a major challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa where nearly 40% of food spoils between production and consumption.
Aftermarket emphasizes its commitment to empowering women in agriculture, a sector where women are responsible for a significant portion of food production. The company aims to improve the livelihoods of rural communities through its cross-impact project.
Makany Touré, Aftermarket’s Co-founder and CEO, expressed her gratitude to Digital Africa for their investment through Fuzé. She highlighted the importance of Fuzé’s support in achieving Aftermarket’s vision of revolutionizing Ivorian agriculture.
Fuzé plays a critical role in making funding more accessible for startups in French-speaking Africa. Backed by Proparco, Fuzé seeks to cultivate opportunities, provide funding avenues, and raise the profile of startups that develop technological solutions for Africa’s economic development.
Digital Africa’s broader startup ecosystem initiatives, including Bridge, Talents 4 Startups, and Fuzé, have already made a significant impact. The Talents 4 Startups program, for example, trained over 290 students in its pilot phase and has plans to expand its reach with 1,000 scholarships across Africa.
Fuzé offers a tiered investment structure with ideation tickets of €20,000, follow-on tickets of €30,000, and cumulative tickets of €50,000. This funding model caters to startups at different stages of development, providing them with the resources they need to grow.
Aftermarket ’s inclusion in the Fuzé portfolio underscores Fuzé’s commitment to fostering innovation in African agriculture. Aftermarket’s digital solutions have the potential to significantly improve agricultural productivity, empower women farmers, and strengthen Côte d’Ivoire’s food supply chain.