Seven startups have secured € 100,000 each as part of the first Ghana cohort of the develoPPP Ventures funding programme. With startup funding in Ghana plummeting by 80% in 2023, such interventions are critical to filling the finance gap.
Being implemented by Innohub, develoPPP Ventures is a growth funding program by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) that aims to support young startups pursuing a high-impact business model with a grant of € 100,000 if the company can raise matching funds of at least the same amount from other sources. The first Ghana cohort comprises the following.
- Built Financial Technologies
Built is a simple financial bookkeeping application that enables entrepreneurs to keep good financial records and build robust financial profiles for better business decision-making. Built was cofounded in 2016 by Edward Neequaye, Rosemary Kwofie and Mary-Anne Aikins.
- Grow For Me
Grow for Me is an agtech digital crowdfunding and commodities aggregator platform. Founded by Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, it leverages its crowdfunding platform to fund farmers to grow more crops—sponsors profit when crops are sold to accredited off-takers or traded on the Ghana Commodity Exchange.
- HJA Africa
HJA Africa is an agribusiness that produces Organic Farming Aids (OFA) such as liquid bio-stimulant fertilizers and fungal and pest control agents. Founded by Henry Abraham, the OFA is 90% cheaper than synthetic options, is easy to use, and has pest and fungal control benefits.
- InstantRad
Founded by Seth Quansah and Ernest Appiah, InstantRad offers an on-demand teleradiology platform-as-a-service and a marketplace for healthcare centres globally. The platform enables hospitals and teleradiologists to upload, view, and store medical images and have remote radiologists review and generate reports.
- Kola Market
Kola Market is a full-stack platform providing sales-as-a-service, smart inventory and product financing to SMEs by leveraging machine learning and data science. Led by Marie-Reine Seshie, the company aims to enable the growth of retail-focused SMEs in Africa.
- Legendary Foods Africa:
Legendary Food Africa is a foodtech that produces insect protein at scale and processes it into delicious value-added products and protein ingredients. Founded by Shobhita Soor in 2020, the startup has developed a unique, sustainable farming system that delivers a resource-efficient and accessible form of protein (palm larvae) with technology and farming systems in Ghana.
- Nelplast Eco
Nelplast Eco is an upcycling company that turns non-recyclable plastic into building blocks fit for construction. Led by Nelson Boateng, the company converts plastic waste into eco blocks, which is 30 % cheaper than alternatives.
Source: Innohub