Egypt’s new $25mln VC climate fund focuses on sustainable farming

Egypt’s new $25mln VC climate fund focuses on sustainable farming

As Egypt hosts the 27th UN Summit on Climate Change (COP 27), an Egyptian-led venture capital fund is taking its first steps to mitigate the impact of the misuse of agricultural land and seas in the Middle East and Africa.

The Climate Resilience Fund is hoping to deploy $25 million in innovative agricultural and aqua solutions, the fund’s Egyptian managing partners told Zawya.

Noting that decarbonization addresses a fourth of the global emissions around the world, Hossam Allam, a managing partner at the Fund, said that another quarter released through the use, or arguably the misuse, of land and sea. “This is a very important point that many people are missing,” he added.

The pre-seed fund is eyeing agritech startups that promote sustainable farming, provide farmers with more data and cut off intermediaries.

According to Allam, the fund is looking at solutions that help farmers maintain their production levels in the face of environmental shocks and “put more of the value chain in [farmers’] pockets so that being a farmer becomes lucrative again.”

“That way, we retain talent on the farms [and] we do not have this flight of talent to urban centers. If we keep talent on the farm, we have a chance of