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Climatetech VC firm Satgana announces first closing of $30m fund
Mazi Mobility, a Kenyan start-up building a network of electric motorbikes, is among the first three planet-positive start-ups who received investment from climatetech venture capital firm Satgana.
Speaking to Ventureburn, Satgana general partner Romain Diaz confirmed that mobility-as-a-service (Maas) start-up Mazi Mobility received investment along with Germany’s Orbio Earth and Yeasty in France.
Founded by Jesse Forrester, Mazi Mobility is charting the future of electric vehicles in Africa. Explaining its uptake by boda-boda operators, Forrester says, “Working for over 10 hours a day, most days, they are always on the move. It, therefore, follows that some of their highest costs will be reflected in the amount of fuel consumption.”
Meanwhile, Satgana announced the first closing of its fund with a €30 million (about $29.6 million) target size. Further investment will be made in 40 start-ups tackling climate change across Europe and Africa.
Satgana (“a good company” in Sanskrit) is on a mission to back the next generation of purpose-driven entrepreneurs building the future of Earth, says Diaz. It invests up to €500 000 at the pre-seed and seed stages.
Beyond capital, it vows to supercharge founders with hands-on operational and strategic support to its portfolio thanks to the network of its Collective and some of its investors on matters such as impact management, technology development, strategy, hiring and fundraising.
Diaz says, “The climate and ecological crisis is the defining issue of our time. As a gigantic challenge ahead of us, it is also a massive business opportunity as we need to reinvent all the sectors of our economies to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement.
“There has never been a better time to build and invest in climatetech, fostered by an unprecedented flood of talent and capital into the space. We look forward to connecting with many more founders, ecosystem partners, investors and talent to join us on this journey to help regenerate our planet.”
He explains that Satgana is looking at a broad range of solutions, intending to help decarbonize all the sectors of the economy. Its focus areas therefore included food and agriculture, energy, mobility, industry and buildings, carbon removal, and the circular economy.
Investments will span across Europe and key markets in Africa, while incorporating a diversity and inclusion lens pre- and post-investment.
So far, the fund has invested in three climatetech start-ups with two others soon to be announced.
About its decision to invest in Mazi Mobility, Diaz says, “The urgent need to decarbonise our economies places transportation at the cusp of a fundamental shift towards electric solutions, and mobility in Africa is ripe for disruption. As such, Satgana is beyond excited to be involved in the launch of Mazi and truly believes in the founding team’s ability to make it happen.”
Orbio Earth, one of the other investments, is described as a start-up building methane intelligence software to help energy providers to monitor and reduce methane emissions with the use of satellites. Yeasty, the French start-up, builds an alternative protein leveraging beer yeast with a circular model.
Satgana was founded by a diverse collective leveraging decades of experience on both sides of the table, operating and investing with a gender lens in impact-driven companies.
The fund already counts more than 30 limited partnerships in its first closing, mainly made up of high net worth individuals and family offices, including Thibaud Hug de Larauze (co-founder and chief executive of impact unicorn Back Market), Josef Bovet (CEO of Tiller Systems), Fabrice de Gaudemar (CEO of Qotto and ex-executive board of Eurazeo), Elsa Hermal (co-founder of Epicery) and the Family Office Cullom Capital.
“The climate and ecological crisis is the defining issue of our time. As a gigantic challenge ahead of us, it is also a massive business opportunity as we need to reinvent all the sectors of our economies to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement,” says Diaz.
“There has never been a better time to build and invest in climatetech, fostered by an unprecedented flood of talent and capital into the space. We look forward to connecting with many more founders, ecosystem partners, investors and talent to join us on this journey to help regenerate our planet.”
