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The Brief | July 23, 2026

Greetings Agents of Impact! In this month’s Africa newsletter: Featured: Startup Ecosystem Kenya Climate Ventures pivots again to back very early startups in

Today’s brief

Featured: Startup Ecosystem

Kenya Climate Ventures pivots again to back very early startups in Africa. Talk about adaptation. Kenya Climate Ventures, among the earliest dedicated climate tech funds in Africa, has pivoted before, and it's pivoting again. The firm, which began as Kenya’s hub in a network of World Bank-funded climate innovation centers, made the transition to a for-profit fund manager in 2016. Since then, it has facilitated more than $20 million in investments to 20 climate tech startups in the country, addressing water challenges, climate resilient agriculture, circularity and waste management, renewable energy and sustainable forestry. But it has yet to reach a final close for its targeted $25 million fund. It's now building out a new strategy around funding mechanisms and partnerships that crowd in more players to deliver more and better climate adaptation finance. “We are looking to be at the center of an integrated model that provides the appropriate pipeline, brings in the appropriate investment and technical support, to deliver a creative ecosystem in a more effective and efficient manner,” KCV's Victor Ndiege tells ImpactAlpha.

Dealflow: Investing in Health

Reme-D nabs $1.5 million for faster diagnostics for underserved populations. Egypt-based Reme-D makes diagnostic kits for human and animal diseases that are designed for healthcare providers in low-resourced settings. The tests are fast, low-cost and do not require refrigeration. The female-led startup raised approximately $1.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by Anara Impact Capital, a Middle East and Africa-focused fund that spun out of UK-based Alfanar Venture Philanthropy last year. Global Innovation Fund and Cape Town-based Africa Health Ventures also participated. “Success means that patients in Africa and the Global South are no longer blocked from life-altering disease diagnosis by cost or availability” of advanced testing, said Reme-D’s Salma Tammam. Reme-D is also a portfolio company of Tunisia-based Open Startup, an accelerator-turned-investor backing African deeptech startups.

Signals: Climate Finance

Global South diaspora finances the climate transition ‘back home.’ The biggest source of development capital in the Global South isn't foreign governments. Or multilateral assistance. Or commercial lenders. Its remittances. More than $900 billion flows from diaspora communities to friends, families and businesses living in other countries. Governments, financial institutions and local communities are keying in on the opportunity to leverage those capital flows as a source of climate adaptation and resilience finance, writes ImpactAlpha contributing editor Marilyn Waite. Africa, which receives more than $95 billion in annual remittances, is experimenting with models for systematically tapping its far-flung expats for development and climate finance. In Zimbabwe, Senegal and Kenya in particular, "asset managers, banks, credit unions or fintech providers are stepping in to improve the transfer process and repatriate earnings with funders’ preferences in mind," Waite explains. 

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Djalal Khimdjee, formerly with Proparco, will take the helm of Africa50's Principal Investment Fund in August… African Export-Import Bank names One Street Studios as co-general partner of the $1 billion Africa Film Fund… Charm Impact is recruiting an investment officer, with a preference for Nairobi-based candidates… OceanHub Africa is hiring a development finance lead, based in Cape Town. 

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