🇰🇪🌾 Nairobi-based venture builder Unmarkets has secured investment from Dublin-based impact investor Small Foundation to launch four new food and agriculture ventures in Kenya, taking them from the design stage into active trading.
💰🚜 The undisclosed investment, made alongside other backers, will finance equipment purchases, supply contracts, product testing, and team recruitment as the four agribusinesses move toward commercial operations.
🏭🤝 Unlike traditional venture builders that start companies from scratch, Unmarkets partners with established African-owned agricultural businesses that already have production facilities, brands, supplier relationships, customers, and sector expertise.
🧠🌱 Under the model, partner companies contribute their expertise, market access, and capital while remaining involved in operations, with Unmarkets providing additional capital and leading venture design, management recruitment, product and brand development, strategy, finance, and operational support.
💬🌍 “We believe Africa’s next generation of agribusinesses will be built by combining the strengths of established local companies with products and brands designed for regional and global markets, supported by long-term capital,” said Milan Samani, Founder and CEO of Unmarkets.
💵🌾 Founded by Samani in 2023 to address gaps in rural finance, Unmarkets says it invests through a $12 million capital vehicle backed by Shell Foundation and values-aligned family offices, with its portfolio targeting improved incomes and climate resilience for 200,000 smallholder farmers.
🧪📈 The new investment follows an earlier grant provided by Small Foundation to Unmarkets in 2024, which helped the venture builder refine its legal and corporate structure as well as ownership and incentive arrangements between its holding company and venture partners.
🌿👨🌾 Small Foundation said the investment will also test whether building new agribusinesses alongside established operators can create stronger companies and more reliable markets for smallholder farmers than conventional founder-led startup models.
🏘️🔄 If successful, the approach could create wider benefits across rural economies by establishing longer-term purchasing relationships with farmers, processing crops closer to production areas, improving access to agricultural inputs, and creating jobs in underserved communities.
🌍🚀 The backing comes as @Small Foundation expands its support for agricultural investment models across East Africa, including its recent support for AgDevCo Ventures, which provides patient capital to early-stage agribusinesses in the region.
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14 September 2026 à 05h30
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