Mercy Corps AgriFin

What Mercy Corps AgriFin does

Mercy Corps AgriFin is a Nairobi-headquartered non-profit program of Mercy Corps (a US-based humanitarian NGO) that designs, tests, and scales digital products and services for smallholder farmers across nine countries in Africa and Asia. Founded in 2012 with founding year sometimes cited as 2015 in third-party data, the program operates through a network of 150+ partner organizations — including AgriTech startups (DigiCow Africa, Hello Tractor, Lersha), fintechs (CreditInfo Tanzania), mobile network operators, banks (Dashen, Hibret, Sinqee), insurers (ACRE Africa), and governments (Ethiopian ATA, KALRO) — to deliver bundled services covering digital credit, insurance, agronomic advisories, mechanization, and market linkages.

The program's core technology stack comprises four proprietary digital assets: Sprout Open Content Agricultural Platform (OCAP), an open-access repository of ~35 value chain content sets delivered via USSD, SMS, and WhatsApp for Business; AgBase, a data and intelligence platform jointly developed with Briter mapping 1,200+ AgTech organizations and USD 2.72B in funding flows across 20+ countries; the Gender Transformative Toolkit, a 17-tool compendium for designing digital agriculture solutions that work for women; and the AgriFin Standardized Impact Tool built with 60 Decibels. The program also deploys co-developed digital credit scoring (137+ data points per farmer) and supports ACRE Africa's DigiBima USSD-based microinsurance platform.

AgriFin's business model is grant-funded and non-commercial. Operating revenue (program budget) consists of restricted and unrestricted grants from institutional donors including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, World Bank, GIZ, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Skoll Foundation, Walmart Foundation, Cisco, Rabobank, Lloyd's, Starbucks, Bayer, and Okta for Good. The program charges no fees to farmer-facing partners or end users; value capture is mission-driven (reach, impact, gender inclusion) rather than financial. Distribution is B2B2C via partners, with channel reach into rural last-mile communities through community-based agents and extension workers. Mercy Corps plans to rebrand to Prosper Global in September 2026, with AgriFin transitioning under the new parent identity.

Name

Mercy Corps AgriFin

Legal name

Mercy Corps

Website

https://mercycorpsagrifin.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Mercy Corps AgriFin is a non-profit program of Mercy Corps that designs, tests, and scales bundled digital financial, agricultural, and climate services for smallholder farmers through a 150+ partner network across nine countries in Africa and Asia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Development Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Crop Production (11511), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Farm Technology Enablement & Data Integration Advisory (FMIS/ERP, IoT, Decision Support) (AFACAJAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Farm Finance, Input Procurement & Risk Tools (Budgeting, Inventory, Insurance Links) (AFAAAFAO), Sustainability & ESG / Carbon & Conservation Program Advisory (AFACAJAF), Remote Sensing & Crop Scouting Services (Satellite, Drone Imagery, In‑Field Sensing) (AFACACAA), Farm Management & Decision Support Software (FMIS, ERP, Recordkeeping) (AFAGALAA)

Keywords

• Digital agriculture services
• Smallholder farmer finance
• Agricultural technology consulting
• Climate smart agriculture
• Farmer-facing capacity building

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Development Finance: Mercy Corps AgriFin operates as a development program funded by institutional donors including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, and other development partners. The program does not generate commercial revenue but provides grant funding, technical assistance, and capacity building to partner organizations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Mercy Corps AgriFin is a development program of Mercy Corps that designs, tests, and scales bundled digital financial and information services for smallholder farmers across 9 countries in Africa and Asia. The program provides technical assistance, capacity building, and grant funding to a network of 150+ farmer-facing organizations (AgriTech startups, fintechs, MNOs, banks, agribusinesses) to deliver services such as digital credit, index-based insurance, agricultural advisories, and market linkages. Core proprietary assets include the Sprout Open Content Agricultural Platform, the AgBase ecosystem intelligence platform, the Gender Transformative Toolkit, and the AgriFin Standardized Impact Tool.

Product overview

Mercy Corps AgriFin is a program (not a single product company) that designs, tests, and scales digital services and products for smallholder farmers. The core portfolio includes Sprout OCAP (open content platform for agricultural information), AgBase (data and intelligence platform), the Gender Transformative Toolkit (17 tools for gender-inclusive design), and the AgriFin Standardized Impact Tool. These work alongside partner platforms like Lersha (digital credit scoring), DigiBima (insurance via ACRE Africa), and CoAmana (marketplace). The organization also runs the ADF2 program bundling digital financial and information services. AgriFin programs have supported more than 8 million smallholders across 9 countries with bundled services developed through 150+ partners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sprout: Open Content for Agriculture Platform - a global public good where agronomic content can be accessed and interacted with on a wide range of information related to agriculture best practices
• AgriFin for Women (A4W)

Products and services

• Sprout Open Content Agricultural Platform (OCAP) An open content platform for agriculture where agronomic content can be accessed, interacted with, and shared. Provides digital and farmer-friendly agriculture content across multiple languages and channels including SMS and WhatsApp for Business for farmer-facing organizations and extension workers.
• AgBase Data and Intelligence Platform A real-time data and intelligence platform mapping 1,200+ organizations across Africa, USD 2.72 billion in reported funding flows, across 20+ countries and multiple value chains. Provides evidence platform to reduce duplication and increase investor trust.
• Gender Transformative Toolkit A compendium of 17 hands-on tools developed through seven years of innovation to help farmer-facing organizations make digital technology work for women in agriculture.
• AgriFin Standardized Impact Tool A consistent, comparable framework developed in partnership with Briter and 60 Decibels for measuring impact across AgriTech ventures, integrating end-user impact and organizational metrics.
• AgriFin Digital Farmer (ADF2) Program A program supporting high-impact bundles of digitally enabled products and services designed to increase income, productivity, and resilience for smallholder farmers, with focus on reaching at least 40% women.
• AgriFin for Women (A4W) India Program India-specific ecosystem study and program identifying potential innovation opportunities for women smallholder farmers, designed to surface barriers and digital solutions for women's financial inclusion in agriculture.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20 million+ smallholder farmers reached with bundled digital products and services
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• NASAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Through a new partnership with NASA, Mercy Corps is expanding AgriFin to connect farmers with satellite data. State-of-the-art imagery, modeling, and analysis will help smallholder farmers manage their crops and adapt to climate change.
• UNCDFcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on Alternative Credit Models for Smallholder Farmers webinar series exploring how data, technology, and partnerships can transform rural lending.
• ACRE AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver index-based agricultural insurance through DigiBima platform. ACRE Africa provides insurance products while AgriFin supports market development and partner engagement.
• Lersha (Ethiopia)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnical partnership to support Lersha's digital platform for smallholder farmers. AgriFin provided technical assistance to refine business model and develop digital credit scoring enabling partnerships with Dashen, Hibret, and Sinqee banks.
• Hello TractorcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership supporting Hello Tractor's mechanization-as-a-service model in Ethiopia. AgriFin invested in training of booking agents and establishing operational network, helping expand to 76,000 hectares.
• CoAmanacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to expand digital payments and Buy Now, Pay Later credit on the Amana Market platform among women traders. Project achieved 5,000 transactions with 60% women participation.
• BritercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to develop AgBase platform providing real-time data and intelligence on African AgTech ecosystem. Joint State of AgTech Investment Report publication.
• 60 DecibelscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to develop AgriFin Standardized Impact Tool for consistent impact measurement across AgriTech ventures. Joint impact studies including Aggregate Impact Report for Disruptive Agriculture Technology partnership.
• FSD KenyacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Financial Sector Deepening Kenya supporting digital financial services innovation and market development.
• Kenya Agriculture Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in developing and hosting Sprout Open Content Platform. KALRO is tasked with restructuring agricultural and livestock research into an innovative, responsive system.
• Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership supporting ICT for Agriculture Services program including 8028 Farmers' Hotline and Ethiopian Agriculture Investment Mapping tool. Over 20,000 farmers accessed financial literacy content through Sprout.
• CGAPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to develop Gender Transformative Toolkit. CGAP contributed to research and co-creation process with partners including Zanaco, Arifu, Agromall, CoAmana, Sunculture and One Acre Fund.
• World Food Programme (WFP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on Savings for Change program in Zambia. WFP profiled 75,053 smallholder farmers within 3,656 savings groups that saved over USD 2.17 million.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Heifer International: Heifer International is a global non-profit that works with smallholder farmers on livestock, agribusiness, and innovation (it runs the AYuTe Africa Challenge that DigiCow, an AgriFin partner, won). It is comparable as an adjacent INGO with shared smallholder and African footprint.

Direct peers

• Root Capital: Root Capital is a non-profit that lends to agricultural SMEs and cooperatives in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. It is comparable because it sits at the intersection of agricultural finance and smallholder livelihoods, supporting lending partners that AgriFin also tries to enable (e.g., alternative credit scoring for rural lending).
• One Acre Fund: One Acre Fund provides bundled services—inputs, financing, training, and market access—to smallholder farmers across East Africa. Its bundled, last-mile delivery model for smallholders directly parallels AgriFin's ADF2 program and shared target beneficiary.
• Precision Development (PxD): PxD delivers digital agricultural advisory services to smallholder farmers via SMS, IVR, and mobile channels in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It mirrors AgriFin's content-to-farmer distribution model (akin to Sprout) and its evidence-led approach to scaling digital extension.
• CGAP: CGAP is a global partnership housed at the World Bank that drives financial inclusion for the poor through research, advisory, and convening. It is comparable because it co-develops frameworks (e.g., the Gender Transformative Toolkit) with Mercy Corps AgriFin and operates the same kind of donor-funded, ecosystem-enabling model for smallholder finance.
• TechnoServe: TechnoServe works with entrepreneurs, businesses, and farmers in developing countries to build inclusive, competitive value chains. Its mission orientation toward smallholder productivity and market linkages aligns with AgriFin's bundled digital services for unbanked farmers.
• Digital Green: Digital Green builds video-based agricultural advisory networks for smallholder farmers in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is comparable to AgriFin's Sprout platform because both produce and distribute farmer-facing digital content through partner organizations to deepen smallholder productivity and resilience.

Emerging players

• Apollo Agriculture: Apollo Agriculture is an African agritech that bundles inputs, financing, and advisory for smallholders using mobile and satellite data. It mirrors AgriFin partner models like Lersha (credit scoring) and ACRE Africa (index insurance) but operates as a commercial venture rather than a grant-funded program.
• SunCulture: SunCulture provides solar-powered irrigation and pay-as-you-go finance to smallholder farmers in East Africa. It is comparable as an AgriFin-ecosystem player delivering technology-enabled climate-smart agriculture services to smallholders.

Broad incumbents

• Safaricom (Digifarm): Safaricom's Digifarm is a Kenyan digital agriculture platform offering inputs, credit, advisory, and market linkages via M-Pesa. It is comparable as a broad incumbent operating in the same digital-agriculture space where AgriFin's Kenyan partners (DigiCow, Rhea, CoAmana, EMATA) deliver services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MercyCorpsAFA
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCOH03n5B77NmbUQnlsoofkg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mercy-corps-agrifin

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Mercy Corps AgriFin