SAIS Investment Readiness Programme 2023 – Farmed Animal Tech Start-ups

SAIS Investment Readiness Programme 2023 – Farmed Animal Tech Start-ups

For digital and sustainable start-ups in the African livestock value chain

Closes February 13, 2023

To apply click here

Organizer - GIZ

Targets - Africa

Sectors - Agritech, Animal farming, Business services, Clean technology and energy, Cloud solutions, Farm machinery, Financial services, Food production, ICT, Information technology, Software as a Service, Transport and logistics, Wind power

SDG (6) - 1. No Poverty, 12. Responsible Consumption and Production, 15. Life on Land, 2. Zero Hunger, 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Are you running a tech start-up and want to challenge the status quo of the livestock and fishing industry? Do you have a solution that makes the industry more sustainable and profitable while at the same time empowering value chain actors? Do you want support in your fundraising, reach more customers, and have a more significant impact?

 

Then this unique (and free!) acceleration programme is for you!

 

What do we offer?

• The SAIS Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) offers African tech start-ups from the agriculture, food, and livestock sectors a year-long tailor-made support program to make you investor ready and scale up your business! (Available in English and French)
• Regular sessions of personalized coaching with local and international expert.
• Tailored to your specific and individual needs, during which strategies and measures for rapid growth will be developed and implemented.
• Access to online training (tailored)
• Structured around several key themes to develop your start-up further, e. g. Pitch Training, Growth Strategy, Data Analytics & Management, Term Sheet, Valuation, Market Analysis, Marketing & Sales, and so on.
• Integrating you into a local hub (optional)
• To get you a workplace for 6 months and facilitate contacts with major players in the local start-up scene, if needed.
• Access to additional services to optimize certain key areas of your business, e. g. legal advice, online marketing, digital product optimization, design, and coding.
• Access to the GIZ network of our global presence, local expertise, far-reaching networks, and years of experience working with the private sector, investors, and business partners. The network can help you to improve the visibility and contacts with start-ups nationally and internationally through participation in national, regional, and international events dedicated to African entrepreneurs

Add-on: Programme for Female Leaders

In addition to the above-mentioned, we offer special support for female founders and women in leading positions of the start-ups:

Our Female Leader Circle meets with the aim of bringing women in leadership positions together, networking and learning from each other. Input sessions on topics that are of special interest for female leaders serve as a starting point for discussion.

A bi-annual Female Founders Award recognizes the achievement of female founder.

Who can apply?

To be eligible for the SAIS Investment Readiness Programme, you must meet the following conditions:

• Legal form: You have to be registered and operate in Africa, You have to provide a certificate of registration
• Team (founders): You must have a founding team of at least two people who work ideally full time for the start-up, Your founding and management team should have entrepreneurial and technical experience in their area of operation
• Digital product/service: You must have a viable digital product that positively impacts the incomes of its customers, Your product must have a positive impact on the African Livestock sector (vertical sectors that have an influence can be accepted as well like eCommerce, FinTech, Logistics, EdTech etc.)
• Market access and traction: You must have launched your digital product at least six months before the application period, Your start-up has to provide evidence of traction (customer base, first revenue)
• Business model: Your start-up should have an easily understandable and convincing business model. Your start-up should have a clear statement of the problem, clear digital solution, clear customer segment, and clear revenue stream.

Add-ons (But not musts)

• You have women in your founding team or as senior managers
• You or one of your founding team members has an IT background
• You and your founding team members have previous start-up experience
• With your product you target a vulnerable group of customers

Who are we?

We are a Pan-African programme for African tech start-ups from the agriculture, food and livestock sectors, offering digital products that can increase the income of their customers. The Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) aims to improve investor readiness, so that the start-ups supported can raise more capital to reach more customers and achieve greater impact.

The IRP is offered by “Scaling Digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-up (SAIS)”, a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The livestock programme is co-financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Our overall goal at SAIS is to increase incomes in the African agri-food sector through scaling proven digital innovations.

Starting in 2019, SAIS has accelerated more than 49 outstanding African start-ups:

Seven investment readiness criteria are used to assess and monitor the investment readiness level and progress of your start-up while participating in the IRP.

• Indicator 1: The competencies of the founding team are improved (e.g., pitch training, operations management, leadership, start-up valuation (“pre-money”), clear roles and responsibility of the management team).  
• Indicator 2: The start-up’s data room is improved and all necessary documents for an effective due diligence are available (e.g., pitch deck, annual balance sheet, accounting, bank statements, forecasts and exit strategy). 
• Indicator 3: A digital system for monitoring the start-up’s user base is established and provides data (“data analytics”).
• Indicator 4: A market research and competitiveness analysis of the start-up is available for the own national market and possible expansion markets.
• Indicator 5: A strategy and a catalogue of measures for marketing & sales is available and guides the actions of the founding team for scaling the start-up.
• Indicator 6: The product of the start-up is market-ready (e.g., customer-driven product development, product-market fit, data security, suitable for national regulations).
• Indicator 7: The start-up’s customer growth is improved (improved customer acquisition rate).

What are the benefits?

• Weekly advisory and coaching sessions: Weekly advisory and coaching sessions held virtually during which strategies and measures for rapid growth and scaling, product improvement and innovation, leadership and business management operations are developed and implemented with the startups.
• Additional services: Based on the startup’s commitment, access to additional services to optimize certain segments (e.g. legal advice, marketing, coding, product optimization, etc.) of the startups.
• Hub integration: Integration of the selected startups in one of our partner hubs in their home country in order to facilitate their visibility and establish contact with relevant actors in the local startup scene.
• Access to GIZ-SAIS network: Access to investors and business partners from the GIZ-SAIS network.
• Extended services: Add-on services for female entrepreneurs.
• Meet-up events: Up to three in-person network events with investors and other start-ups of the ecosystem.

Instructions and Tips for the Application

• Please apply online by clicking the link provided above.
• Start the process when you have all necessary information ready and pay attention to your video pitch (max. 2 minutes) and pitch deck.
• Please provide all the information requested to avoid your exclusion during the pre-selection process.

Good Luck – We are looking forward to receiving your application!

Any questions?

Scroll down to find more information about the program in our FAQ on the website. If you have any further questions that are not answered there, please don’t hesitate to contact us by email at click here.

For more agribusiness funding opportunities follow us