My existing portfolio of innovative and sustainable companies grew in 2024. Several exciting new investments were added. These investments further diversified and strengthened my commitment to cleantech, emerging markets, and early-stage ventures.
Here’s an overview of the notable additions to my portfolio in 2024:
AGSOL
Country of incorporation:
Hong Kong (parent), Kenya and China (subsidiaries)
Year of incorporation:
2016 Hong Kong, 2018 Kenya, 2023 China
Last financing date and round stage (and if public amount raised):
9 Jan 2025, Seed, 200,000 EUR
Mission:
To empower rural communities in emerging markets by designing, manufacturing and distributing cutting edge solar powered agri-processing machines. Agsol’s solar mills are designed to save people time and money, while producing healthier food, improving energy access and offering new income opportunities, particularly for rural women. On a mission to eradicate diesel mills that half billion people in Africa depend on today for their staple food processing needs.
Product/Services:
Agsol makes the most efficient small grain milling machine on the planet. It is more than 2.5x more efficient than its closest competition, meaning it needs 2.5x less solar to do the same amount of work. This efficiency gain is critical to unlocking affordability. Agsol’s mill is also fully automated, opening the door for women participation in what is a heavily dominated by men in the informal diesel milling sector. Our mill is designed for solar, but can also run from the grid, weak-grid, electric motorbikes and practically any power supply. It is pay-as-you-go enabled for digital finance and has GSM IoT for remote monitoring.
Target Markets:
Agsol’s operational HQ is based in Kenya, which is our first target market. From here we will strategically expand into neighbouring counties such as Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and more. Meanwhile we are receiving enquiries from distributors across the continent and beyond and have selectively sent samples into 10 other countries. This year our target is to sell in excess of 2,000 units.
Why I invested?
This startup has some significant traction in several African countries, mainly in Kenya. Costs for the grinder are comparable or lower than using diesel. This is a win for the environment. It also benefits farmers who can gain from lower costs.
As I said before in this blog, innovation is found at the crossroads of ideas. Agsol combines two core themes of my portfolio: sustainable energy and efficient agriculture.
Biome: fully automated living plant walls.
I earlier invested in indoor farming (Urbankisaan, MyFood, Agriloops, and now defunct Agripolis). I have recently launched a second forestry oriented startup: Tree Geo Data.
I was attracted to Collin’s idea to automate indoor/outdoor office plants. I was convinced by the impressive clientele. This includes the world’s largest real estate developers and management companies.
Candam Technologies
Country of incorporation:
Spain
Year of incorporation:
2017
Last financing date and round stage (and if public amount raised):
Not public yet.
Mission:
To drive a circular economy by enhancing packaging recovery through innovative Return and Earn schemes. Its mission is to simplify and make recycling accessible, fostering sustainability and minimizing environmental impact through technology-driven solutions.
Candam focuses on three fundamental pillars:
- Maximizing packaging recovery rates by leveraging advanced technology.
- Encouraging consumer participation in recycling through reward-based systems.
- Promoting a circular economy by reducing waste and boosting material reuse.
Product/Services:
The RecySmart Bin is an IoT-enabled smart recycling container designed to make recycling easier, efficient and rewarding. It enables the implementation of various recycling schemes (Reward as you throw, pay as you throw and digital deposit refund system)
RecySmart Bin is adaptable to any container and offers different solutions for both the public and private sector.
Features of the Recysmart Bin:
- Identifies plastic, glass, and cans.
- Reward System: Incentivizes recycling by offering rewards, points or discounts for users.
- Data Monitoring and Analytics
- Customizable Design
Target Markets:
Candam operates across public and private sectors, including:
- Public Sector:
- Municipalities and local governments (Mafra, Guadalajara…).
- Public institutions.
- Private Sector:
- Campsites, resorts and holiday parks.
- Gas stations and service areas.
- Shopping centers and retail.
Its main target countries are Spain, Portugal and other European countries with growing interest in recycling initiatives.
Why I invested?
I earlier invested in this space in Taqt (which pivoted from smart bins to facilities management software). Candam has an innovative smart waste solution vs. image recognition, and has gained some traction in Europe.
ClubZero: UK based returnable food and beverage packaging system.
Ennoflow: AI-powered demand flexibility breakthrough technology.
Still in stealth mode. This hardware/software energy demand startup differentiated from its competitors by: (i) allowing integration with other platforms (i.e., becoming the energy OS rather than creating its own standard), and (ii) partnering up with known global brands to reach global scale.
Emushrif: safe & reliable rides to school.
This startup shouldn’t be in my portfolio as it is not an impact company. Nevertheless, this is an idea that I had in 2015, but never acted upon. I was impressed by the efforts of Adnan and his team. They launched in Oman, and scaled Emushrif. As part of their learning journey, they operated a bus service themselves. Survived COVID-19. Now growing into multiple countries in GCC.
HeroGo: discounted fresh groceries rescued from going to waste.
I saw a potential parallel between HeroGo and Willy Anti Gaspi. HeroGo launched in the UAE and is expanding into KSA. There is a lot of food waste in the Middle East.
Portfolio Performance in 2024
2024 also brought a positive partial >12x exit from Baubap. It is a fintech for the BOP in Mexico. This company has grown significantly since my first investment in 2019, one year after its incorporation. I found this gem through the Arkangeles crowdfunding platform, and doubled down via an Angelist syndicated investment.
On the not so rosy side, I escorted these great startups to the corporate graveyard in 2024: Apperto, Designable, Gecco, Marketforce360, Mootral, Sote, and Superfluid Labs. Out of this group, Apperto was the biggest hit. I had invested twice in it based on this investment thesis. It was also painful to see Marketforce plummet from >$100m valuation to zero.
Please contact me if you are interested in any of these startups. You can also reach out if you are interested in sharing deal flow (my views on this).
“There’s a huge opportunity to back the startups helping to roll back the clock on the climate crisis and transform the way whole sectors operate. From farming startups to battery technology, startups addressing climate change need more funds with deep pockets and a commitment to support dynamic companies, to ensure they can fulfil their potential. ”
Daria Saharova, General Partner at World Fund
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