Hey there, Kwame here

Welcome to This Week in StartupGhana, your weekly intelligence on Ghana’s startup ecosystem. Here’s a look at the bold moves shaping the ecosystem this week.

• Ghana has a startup financing problem; Ashesi is showing what action looks like.
• Seevcash secures fresh Stellar Community Fund backing, taking total funding to $333,000
• Mariseth Farms secures $1.6 million in working capital loan from Sahel Capital.
• Kutana Technologies selected for CV Labs Accelerator programme.
• Ghana’s SEC admits 9 more companies into its virtual assets regulatory sandbox.
• Access Bank Ghana gets carbon credit broker license to connect businesses to global carbon markets
• PharmaVax Initiative awards €2 million R&D grants to Ghanaian research institutions and pharmaceutical companies

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Hot Topic: Ghana has a startup financing problem; Ashesi is showing what action looks like.

Ghana has no shortage of conversations about the need to finance its next generation of startups. But while other markets are putting institutional capital to work, Ghana is still struggling to turn plans into money reaching founders.

Ashesi offers an interesting contrast. Its endowment has reportedly committed $1 million each to Janngo Capital and Ventures Platform, backing funds that invest in African startups.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s banks are committing capital to startup investment vehicles, while Ghana’s Youth Fund is still stuck on finding a fund manager, according to our sources.

Ashesi’s move raises a simple question: who else is ready to put money behind Ghana’s next generation of businesses?

Read the full story → https://www.ghanainnovationjournal.com/posts/ghana-has-a-startup-financing-problem-ashesi-is-showing-what-action-looks-like

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Funding

Seevcash secures fresh Stellar Community Fund backing, taking total funding to $333,000

Seevcash, the remittance and peer-to-peer money transfer platform has secured $333,000 in cumulative funding from the Stellar ecosystem. The funding will help the company to scale its product and acquire new users

Mariseth Farms secures $1.6 million in working capital loan from Sahel Capital.

Ghanaian agribusiness Mariseth Farms has secured a $1.6 million working capital facility from Sahel Capital’s Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA). The financing will provide the company with additional financing to expand commodity trading during the 2026/2027 agricultural season.

PharmaVax Initiative awards €2 million R&D grants to Ghanaian research institutions and pharmaceutical companies

PharmaVax Ghana has awarded €2 million across eight R&D projects involving institutions including KNUST, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Noguchi Memorial Institute, CSIR Water Research Institute and Central University, alongside pharmaceutical companies such as Atlantic Lifesciences, Aspee Pharmaceuticals, Ernest Chemists and DEK Vaccines. The projects cover child-friendly malaria medicines, vaccines, herbal treatments, snake antiserum and AI-powered diagnostics for malaria and Mpox.

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Accelerator & Incubator

Kutana Technologies selected for CV Labs Accelerator programme.

Kutana Technologies has been selected for the inaugural Stellar x CV Labs Accelerator, joining 10 startups building solutions across payments, DeFi and real world assets. The Ghanaian fintech will receive technical support, investor access and access to $150,000 in development funding. The 12 week programme starts which started in August and will end with a Demo Day at Stellar Meridian in Lisbon.

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Policy & Regulations

Ghana’s SEC admits 9 more companies into its virtual assets regulatory sandbox.

Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission has admitted nine additional companies into its Virtual Asset Regulatory Sandbox, expanding the number of participants under its supervision to 20. The new participants cover virtual asset brokerage, exchanges, trading platforms and tokenisation of financial and real-world assets.

The new cohort broadens the scope of activity being tested within the sandbox. While several participants focus on cryptocurrency trading and brokerage, others are testing the use of blockchain-based infrastructure for traditional financial and commodity assets.

Access Bank Ghana gets carbon credit broker license to connect businesses to global carbon markets.

Access Bank Ghana has become the first bank in Ghana licensed by the Carbon Market Office to operate as a carbon credit broker. The license allows the bank to connect Ghanaian project developers and businesses with buyers, carbon funds and climate finance institutions, including through Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes.

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Thanks for reading. If you found this valuable, share it with a founder in your network.

Until next week,

Kwame

Editor, Ghana Innovation Journal