What Climate Resilient Africa Fund does

Climate Resilient Africa Fund (CRAF) is a privately-held impact investment fund headquartered at Kamelizer Spaces, New Cairo 3, Cairo, Egypt. The fund provides seed-stage equity capital to African startups developing scalable solutions in two thematic areas: agri-food technology and the nature economy. CRAF positions its investment thesis around Africa's specific climate vulnerability and food insecurity challenges, framing the opportunity against a backdrop in which the global food system accounts for roughly $8 trillion per year (10% of the global economy) and in which overshoot of the 1.5°C climate threshold is increasingly viewed as inevitable even under net-zero pathways. The fund explicitly references the "9 Planetary Boundaries" framework to anchor its science-based investment criteria.

CRAF does not build technology products; it operates as a fund manager that deploys capital and portfolio support to selected startups. Its current disclosed portfolio comprises four companies: Winich Square (agri-food technology), Sea Gardener (marine and coastal nature-economy solutions), Chitosan (chitosan-based inputs from marine sources for agriculture), and Legendary Foods (sustainable food production and consumption). Deal flow is sourced through a direct application portal on the fund's website, supplemented by portfolio referrals. Revenue is generated through the conventional venture-fund model: management fees and carried interest on equity investments, with returns contingent on exits via acquisitions or IPOs.

The fund is led by Managing Partners Hossam Allam and Sherief Kesseba, supported by a small team of roughly 8–10 professionals including a Portfolio Analyst, Investment Analyst, Junior Fund Administrator, and Marketing Associate, plus Venture Partners Moustafa Rehan (serial agri-entrepreneur and founder of Novaroma) and Simba Mhungu (COO of CBZ agro-yield, which oversees a $500M portfolio supporting 60,000+ Zimbabwean farmers). Geographic focus is continent-wide Africa, with disclosed portfolio activity in Egypt and Zimbabwe.

Name

Climate Resilient Africa Fund

Legal name

Climate Resilient Africa Fund

Website

https://cra.fund

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Climate Resilient Africa Fund (CRAF) is a Cairo-based impact investment fund providing seed-stage equity capital to African startups developing climate-resilient solutions in agri-food technology and the nature economy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Impact Investment Fund

akta.pro primary industry

Climate / Clean Tech & Decarbonization Funds (FSANAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Climate Finance, Carbon Markets & MRV Systems (BPADALAB)

Keywords

• Impact venture capital
• Climate resilience investing
• Agri-food tech funding
• Nature economy investment
• Seed stage startups

Headquarters

HQ city

New Egypt

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fund Management: As an impact investment fund, CRAF generates returns through carried interest and management fees from their venture fund. They invest equity capital in seed stage startups expecting exits through acquisitions or IPOs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Climate Resilient Africa Fund (CRAF) is an impact investment fund that provides seed-stage equity capital and support to African startups developing scalable climate solutions in agri-food tech and the nature economy. The fund invests in early-stage companies such as Winich Square, Sea Gardener, Chitosan, and Legendary Foods, focusing on climate-smart transformation of food systems and the nature economy across the African continent.

Product overview

Climate Resilient Africa Fund (CRAF) is an impact investment fund that backs seed-stage African startups developing scalable solutions to the climate crisis in agri-food tech and the nature economy. The fund focuses on climate-smart transformation of Africa's agri-food systems and nature economy. Rather than a unified software product, CRAF operates as a fund offering investment and support to a portfolio of startups, including Winich Square, Sea Gardener, Chitosan, and Legendary Foods, which collectively address sustainable food production, marine resources, and agricultural innovation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Winich Square Agricultural technology startup in the CRAF portfolio focused on climate-resilient solutions for Africa's food systems.
• Sea Gardener Nature economy startup in the CRAF portfolio developing sustainable marine and coastal solutions.
• Chitosan Portfolio company developing chitosan-based solutions from marine sources for agricultural applications.
• Legendary Foods Food systems startup in the portfolio reimagining sustainable food production and consumption in Africa.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Root Capital: Non-profit impact investor lending to small and growing agricultural businesses in Africa and Latin America. Comparable as an agricultural impact financier in African frontier markets.
• VestedWorld: Early-stage VC fund investing in Africa-focused startups. Comparable stage, deal size, and emerging-market impact orientation to CRAF's seed strategy.
• AgDevCo: Specialist agriculture-focused impact investor in Africa. Directly comparable as a sector-focused fund deploying patient capital to African agri-food businesses, similar end-markets to CRAF.
• Acumen: Long-established impact investor active across Africa and Asia. Comparable as a VC-style fund backing early-stage entrepreneurs addressing poverty and climate, sharing mission and structure with CRAF.
• Novastar Ventures: Pan-African impact VC focused on early-stage businesses serving mass-market customers. Directly comparable stage, geography, and impact orientation to CRAF.
• Injaro Investments: Africa-focused impact investor (including Injaro Agricultural Capital Holdings) backing SMEs across West Africa. Comparable as a mission-driven Africa private capital provider overlapping with CRAF's vertical.
• Sahel Capital: Private equity firm dedicated to food and agriculture across West Africa (managing FAFIN). Directly comparable as a sector-and-region focused fund targeting African agri-food SMEs.

Emerging players

• Octerra Climate: Climate-focused VC investor backing decarbonization startups. Comparable as a climate-thesis venture investor, though broader in geography than CRAF's Africa-only mandate.
• 2050 Capital: Emerging-market climate tech VC. Comparable as a thematic climate fund targeting innovative ventures in growth markets, intersecting with CRAF's climate mandate.

Broad incumbents

• Climate Fund Managers: Established climate infrastructure & private equity manager with multiple regional climate funds. Comparable as a dedicated climate investor in emerging markets, though at a much larger scale and infra/project focus rather than seed VC.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/climate-resilience-fund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Climate Resilient Africa Fund