The Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility, a USD 4M pilot investment facility managed by Village Capital with funding from the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)/Orange Corners, has announced USD 500K in new investments across three startups, Built Financial Technologies, GrowForMe and SAYeTECH, bringing its total investments in Ghana to USD 850K across five companies advancing SME enablement, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and logistics.
The announcement follows the Facility’s initial investments into Rivia Clinics and VDL Fulfilment earlier this year. Together, these investments illustrate the Facility’s focus on backing enterprises that solve ecosystem bottlenecks by improving access to finance, strengthening agricultural value chains and expanding locally designed manufacturing solutions, all creating stronger foundations for business growth in Ghana.
Across many African markets, entrepreneurs are building in sectors where the infrastructure businesses depend on remains fragmented, underdeveloped or absent altogether. Their close understanding of the realities facing SMEs, farmers and local industries allows them to design practical solutions that address critical market gaps, from financial systems and agricultural supply chains to locally designed production capacity.
Through this Facility, Village Capital, FMO and RVO/Orange Corners aim to demonstrate how locally-led investment approaches and catalytic capital can help bridge these ecosystem gaps and drive enterprise growth.
The Facility’s latest investees include:
- Built Financial Technologies, a fintech platform helping SMEs digitise operations and access embedded finance through tools for accounting, payroll, invoicing, payments and inventory management. The company has onboarded more than 18,000 SMEs across Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria and processed over USD 1.5B in invoices, enabling businesses to manage operations more efficiently while improving access to financial services embedded within everyday business workflows.
“Our embedded lending solution has grown by more than 250% over the past two years, so a significant portion of this investment will go straight into helping more SMEs access the capital they need to grow,” said Edward Neequaye, CEO and Co-Founder at Built Financial Technologies. “What stood out was how the Facility structured the funding around the realities of our business and growth trajectory, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. That flexibility gives us the support we need to scale sustainably, invest in AI across our platform, and strengthen our go-to-market efforts.”
- SAYeTECH, a manufacturer of smart agricultural machinery designed for African farming conditions, including threshers and grain-cleaning equipment, helps reduce post-harvest losses and labor intensity for smallholder farmers. Orange Corners Ghana alum and a recipient of the Orange Corners Innovation Fund (OCIF), SAYeTECH’s equipment can process crops up to 40 times faster than manual methods, reducing some harvesting and threshing activities from days to just hours.
“Most traditional financing options available locally are not designed for businesses like ours that are building industrial solutions for agriculture,” said Theodore Ohene-Botchway, Co-Founder and Operations Lead at SAYeTECH. “This investment gives us the patient, well-structured support we need to prepare for market entry, strengthen partnerships and distribution, and position the company for sustainable expansion within the ECOWAS region.
- GrowForMe, an agritech platform connecting farmers, aggregators, investors and off-takers through services including input financing, warehousing, aggregation and commodity trading. The investment will support the company’s efforts to strengthen agricultural value chains and expand access to financing and market infrastructure for farming communities. Since its launch, GrowForMe has impacted more than 19,000 farmers and facilitated over USD 3.9M in commodity trade.
Commenting on why the Facility chose to back these companies, Husein Merchant, Investment Officer at Village Capital, said, “These startups are building practical, locally grounded solutions to challenges that affect how small businesses and farmers operate every day. What’s notable is that they’re not waiting for the infrastructure to catch up; they’re building it themselves. Getting the right capital behind them is how those solutions scale.”
The Facility works in partnership with locally-led Entrepreneur Support Organisations, whose proximity to founders and market insight help identify high-potential early-stage companies often overlooked by traditional investors, an approach that is central to the Facility’s investment model. In Ghana, Reach for Change and Innovation Spark supported the Facility’s sourcing and ecosystem engagement efforts.
These investments complete the Facility’s initial portfolio in Ghana, with future investments planned in Nigeria and Tanzania.
About the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility
The Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility is a USD 4M investment facility designed to unlock early-stage capital for startups in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania that are advancing climate resilience and economic mobility. Managed by Village Capital, the Facility pioneers a locally-led investment model by partnering with in-market Entrepreneur Support Organisations (ESOs). These ESOs help identify strong founder teams, shape investment pipelines and advise on due diligence, ensuring capital is invested where it has the greatest local impact and fit for purpose.
The Facility is backed by the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), two leading institutions championing inclusive, sustainable development through entrepreneurship. As a leading impact investor, FMO supports sustainable private sector growth in emerging markets, while RVO executes and implements programmes that strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems and improve access to early-stage finance, including Orange Corners and the Orange Corners Innovation Fund (OCIF).
