# Smart Cities Innovation Programme

> Smart Cities Innovation Programme is a VC fund in Eschborn backing FinTech and Transportation. See 35 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Eschborn, Germany
- Total investments: 35
- Last investment: Sep 2021
- Lead investor: 97%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-in-africa/
- Website: https://www.make-it.africa/programmes/smart-cities-innovation-programme
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/make.it.in.africa.giz/

Smart Cities Innovation Programme is a VC fund in Eschborn focused on FinTech and Transportation. Smart Cities Innovation Programme (SCIP) aims at supporting high-potential African tech startups operating in the field of smart mobility, CleanTech & smart housing, and FinTech for affordability in Rwanda and beyond.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FinTech | 5 | 14% |
| Transportation | 5 | 14% |
| Financial Services | 5 | 14% |
| Information Technology | 5 | 14% |
| Software | 4 | 11% |

44 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Non-equity Assistance | 20 | 57% |
| Grant | 14 | 40% |
| Pre-Seed | 1 | 3% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kenya | 7 | 20% |
| Uganda | 3 | 9% |
| Nigeria | 3 | 9% |
| Ghana | 2 | 6% |
| Rwanda | 2 | 6% |

12 countries tracked in total.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Instadriver | Instadriver is a driver-employer marketplace that streamlines driver recruitment and management. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Messibat International | Messibat International is a construction company that specializes in green and smart buildings and properties. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Ecoplastile | Ecoplastile is both a hardware and software company redefining access to affordable housing, insurance and financial inclusion using plastic waste as a resource. Ecoplastile's Wasteinsure is a micro mobile insurance , financial inclusion product using an innovative approach to provide health insurance, payments, and access to credit to smallscale businesses and low income populations by providing an option for them to pay for health insurance, pay for bills, aitime, and access credit using recyclable waste as premium. The plastic collected is recycled into highly demanded roofing tiles that redces the cost of building close to 35%, and excess plastic is sold to other recycling companies. Proceeds are used to provide health insurance premiums as payment to the households who opt into the scheme. Users can also opt for cash payments.  This is facilitaed by digital and mobile applications. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Expendo Cargo | Expendo Cargo offer an online vehicular marketplace for cargo owners & transporters. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Urbany Africa | Urbany Africa provides bespoke residences for sale in a desirable position near the Kigali Convention Centre. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Smatbeba | Smatbeba is a Kenyan-based online cargo transportation platform that connects businesses and people to vetted truck drivers that provide safe, dependable, and cheap services across East Africa. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Dove Air | Dove air is using advanced technology to empower people to address some of the biggest problems across Africa. We provide reliable and fast service while meeting all the safety standards. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Naa Sika | A Cross-Platform for all things money; Everyday spending to planning your future with savings, investments, insurance, and access to credit. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| Tuverl | Tuverl is an app that seeks to make Public Transport cheaper and more accessible to millions of commuters across Africa by helping Public Transport Operators optimize their routes, reduce operational costs and increase revenue. Tuverl leverages Cloud Computing, Data Analytics, Geolocation, FinTech, and Machine Learning to improve and optimizePublic Transport and fundamentally change how commuters in African countries pay for it, starting with Zimbabwe. We have 2 Mobile Applications, a Commuter App for commuters and an Operator App for Public Transport Operators. Using the Tuverl App, Commuters can live track intracity buses and minibuses, book intercity trips on buses, hail a Taxi on demand, and pay for their Public Transportation using local fintech solutions. Commuters can rate and review their trips creating a transparent industry that fosters quality customer service.The Tuverl Operator App empowers Drivers and Operators with tools to broadcast the live locations of their vehicles, manage their fleets, and process fares digitally. This helps these two stakeholders to increase the number of commuters per trip, increase the number of trips per day and reduce the usage of resources like fuel and man-hours that are wasted by randomly searching for commuters. Our work seeks to promote Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. Our vision is to support smart, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities in African countries by improving Urban mobility and public transportation. |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |
| e-safiri | E-Safiri hopes to accelerate Africa's transition to sustainable transportation by developing solar-powered and grid-connected charging stations for two and three-wheelers |  | Non-equity Assistance | Sep 27, 2021 |  |

10 of 35 investments shown.

## Similar investors

### Similar industry
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [SOSV](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sosv) — VC Fund
- [Breakthrough Energy Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/breakthrough-energy-ventures) — VC Fund

### Similar stage
- [SVG Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/svg-ventures) — VC Fund
- [EIT Food](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/eit-food) — VC Fund
- [Creative UK](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/creative-uk) — VC Fund

### Similar country
- [Launch Africa](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/launch-africa) — VC Fund
- [Ventures Platform](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ventures-platform) — VC Fund
- [Women Entrepreneurship for Africa](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/women-entrepreneurship-for-africa) — VC Fund

## Featured in investor lists
- [CleanTech Investors in Africa](https://shizune.co/investors/cleantech-investors-africa)

## FAQ

### What does Smart Cities Innovation Programme invest in?

Smart Cities Innovation Programme invests primarily in FinTech, Transportation and Financial Services startups, most often at Non-equity Assistance and Grant stage. Most of the 35 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Kenya. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Smart Cities Innovation Programme last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Smart Cities Innovation Programme closed in Sep 2021. Shizune tracks 35 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

# About Shizune
Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features:
- 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others)
- Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data
- Updated daily from public funding news
- CSV and Excel export

The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co