Top 10 Startup Investors in Kenya in May 2025

Last updated: May 2025 A list of 10 angel investors and VC (Venture Capital) funds that invest in Venture capital startups based in Kenya. We rank investors based on the number of investments they made in Venture capital companies from Kenya. We update this investor list every month.

Top 10 Startup Investors in Kenya in May 2025

Investor	Venture Capital Kenya investments
Ground Squirrel Ventures	2
Federico Pirzio-Biroli	2
Ian McCaig	1
Jim Villanueva	1
ARCH Emerging Markets Partners	1
Autodesk Foundation	1
Klister Credit	1
Clear Creek Investments	1
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati	1
Helena Riese Harstad	1

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Investor list

Seed round investment in frontier markets and clean energy

Investment focus

Financial Services, FinTech, Finance
Seed, Funding Round, Series A
United States, Kenya, Zambia

Portfolio highlights

Grapevine — Grapevine makes it possible for groups to invite members, collect and distribute donations, establish a community and connect with nonprofits.
Untapped Global — Untapped connects global investors, and foreign capital to opportunities in emerging markets. Delivering competitive returns, and measurable impact for global investors.
Necessary Ventures — We invest in what the world needs.

Fede started out as an angel investor in 2010. His portfolio quickly grew, so he built a team around him and thus Playfair Capital was born. We have since gone on to become one of Europe’s most active and well-known early-stage VC funds. Before becoming a technology investor Fede worked for several NGOs in Africa, with a particular focus on aidtransparency. He recently renewed his focus on Africa by relocating to Kenya and becoming an angel investor in East Africa’s burgeoning startup ecosystem. He maintains an active role at Playfair and continues to lead our investment team.

Investment focus

Software, Venture Capital, Non Profit
Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
United Kingdom, Kenya, Sweden

Portfolio highlights

Bibblio — Conversion optimization, powered by AI. Increase user engagement, grow revenues and drive new audiences, for stronger site metrics and ROI.
Brewbot — Brewbot is a multidisciplinary team of designers and developers based in Belfast, N. Ireland. They come from different backgrounds and experiences — music, design, code, and fine art — but they all share a common passion for brewing.
Purple Elephant Ventures — We are Africa's first venture studio focusing on the travel & tourism sector. Our aim is to build businesses that will lead Africa's tourism industry to a greener future

Ian McCaig is the CEO of lastminute.com.

Investment focus

Travel, Tourism, Venture Capital
Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Purple Elephant Ventures — We are Africa's first venture studio focusing on the travel & tourism sector. Our aim is to build businesses that will lead Africa's tourism industry to a greener future

Jim Villanueva - Investment Director, Managing Director, Global Partnerships Social Venture Fund @ Global Partnerships

Investment focus

Agriculture, Energy, Travel
Series A, Series B, Seed
Kenya, Uganda, Zambia

Portfolio highlights

Treasure8 — Through our commercial partnerships and USDA-patented dehydration technologies, Treasure8 transforms food streams and food waste into nutrient-dense elements that can be enhanced, shaped, shipped, and enjoyed almost anywhere and when needed most.
Good Nature Agro — Their priority is to generate lasting income with small-scale farmers. They build local community leaders into qualified Private Extension Agents (PEAs) who oversee and train farmers throughout the growing season. They support PEAs to provide frequent trainings and personalized recommendations on how their growers can make their field healthier andmore productive. PEAs promote improved farm practices and deliver a farmer-friendly loan of seeds and additional inputs. At harvest, Good Nature is a guaranteed market for the certified legume seed that their growers produce. Choosing to produce these high-value crops over traditional cash crops - maize and cotton - more than doubles their income.
Purple Elephant Ventures — We are Africa's first venture studio focusing on the travel & tourism sector. Our aim is to build businesses that will lead Africa's tourism industry to a greener future

ARCH is a specialist emerging markets investment advisor with deep experience of emerging markets, private equity, asset management and legal and governance matters over many decades.

Investment focus

Solar, Finance, Consumer
Series D, Debt Financing, Private Equity
Kenya, South Africa, United States

Portfolio highlights

CrossBoundary — CrossBoundary Energy's renewable energy solutions help decarbonize enterprise by providing cleaner, cheaper and more reliable power.
Sun King — Sun King solar lanterns and home systems enables underserved communities to achieve more with inclusive distribution and flexible financing options.
The Sun Exchange — We finance, install, and maintain the solar system. You simply pay for the power it generates and save from day one.

Autodesk Foundation is the first foundation to focus investment exclusively on the people and organizations using design for impact.

Investment focus

Energy, Environmental Engineering, Renewable Energy
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Kenya, Uganda

Portfolio highlights

M2X Energy — M2X Energy is a scalable methane conversion technology company that provides automated gas-to-product systems for methane conversion.
Last Energy — Last Energy is creating a new system for the development and delivery of small modular nuclear power plants. Combining proven reactor technology with a first-of-its-kind delivery model and fully modular plant design, Last Energy aims to decarbonize energy production and increase access to clean, affordable power.
Found Energy — Found Energy's aluminum-thermal power systems extract renewable energy from aluminum at double the energy density of diesel and at a competitive cost. Compact, modular, safe, and carbon-free, our technology makes industrial decarbonization practical.

Klister Credit is an investment and consulting corporation.

Investment focus

Analytics, SaaS, Infrastructure
Seed, Pre-Seed, Funding Round
Canada

Portfolio highlights

WatrHub — WatrHub is a data and intelligence company that delivers predictive intelligence on infrastructure opportunities in the US and Canada. WatrHub is the only source of predictive market information on how, when, and why these water infrastructure investments will be made. Its AI engine transforms millions of public documents into actionable salesleads and market insights. Manufacturers subscribe to WatrHub to secure their next water utility clients and bring their advanced, efficient technologies to aging water infrastructure.It was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Sparrow BioAcoustics — Sparrow BioAcoustics ,developers of a smartphone stethoscope designed to gather and collaborate on medical-grade cardiac and pulmonary data.
Purple Elephant Ventures — We are Africa's first venture studio focusing on the travel & tourism sector. Our aim is to build businesses that will lead Africa's tourism industry to a greener future

CCI is a multi-stage investor that deploys capital as a long-term, patient investor through a partnership approach to create value in portfolio companies. We invest in companies across the Food, Water, and Energy (transition & transformation) sectors via a lens of innovation and sustainability that drive climate solutions and climate resiliency.

Investment focus

Travel, Tourism, Venture Capital
Seed
Kenya

Portfolio highlights

Purple Elephant Ventures — We are Africa's first venture studio focusing on the travel & tourism sector. Our aim is to build businesses that will lead Africa's tourism industry to a greener future

The premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide

Investment focus

Software, Biotechnology, Health Care
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Kenya, Israel

Portfolio highlights

nChroma Bio — nChroma Bio's integrated product engine allows for safe, accurate, and targeted in vivo administration, addressing major shortcomings of current genetic medicine techniques.
General Proximity — General Proximity is a pioneering future-oriented proximity medicine that envisions the future of medicine.
SingleFile Technologies — SingleFile Technologies automates secretary of state filings with our cloud based, filing platform using AI technology. From business formations to foreign qualifications, and many other filing documents, the SingleFile platform saves time, eliminates confusion, and reduces cost.

Helena Riese Harstad is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Optimizer Foundation. She previously worked at SBAB Bank as a Project Specialist. Helena Riese attended Stockholm University.