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Kenyan startup secures grant from GSMA climate resilience fund

Aquarech, a Kenyan aquaculture platform, is among eight agritech startups awarded grants from the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation.

The grant aims to accelerate the testing, adoption and scalability of digital innovations that enable the world’s most vulnerable populations to adapt to, anticipate and absorb the negative impacts of climate change.

Aquarech founder, Dave Okech, says the funding will be the catalyst for the platform to achieve vertical coordination between “our game-changing technology, fish farmers, and fish traders, increasing their climate resilience.”

The GSMA is a member of the Adaptation Research Alliance, a global collaborative effort to increase investment and research capacity for effective adaptation to climate change.

Successful projects receive an equity-free grant of between £100,000 and £250,000 (US$119,00 and $297,000) to scale their innovation over a 15- to 18-month period.

Other agritech startups selected for the grant include Bakhabar Kissan in Pakistan, BENAA in Egypt, CoAmana, Crop2Cash and Hello Tractor in Nigeria, GeoKrishi in Nepal, J-Palm in Liberia, Komunidad in Philippines, Lersha in Ethiopia, and Simusolar in Tanzania.