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Small Foundation has announced its support for AgDevCo Ventures, a vehicle providing patient finance to early-stage agribusinesses across East Africa.
Based out of Dublin, Small Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that aims to catalyse and scale income-generating opportunities for people living in extreme poverty in rural sub-Saharan Africa.
The announcement comes over a couple of months after AgDevCo Ventures was assigned an A‑ issuer credit rating with a stable outlook by S&P Global Ratings, making it one of only a handful of development‑focused investment vehicles globally to achieve an investment‑grade rating.
AgDevCo is a specialist investor in African agriculture with more than 15 years’ experience making long-term debt and equity investments in farming and agri-processing businesses across SSA.
AgDevCo currently manages a portfolio of 38 active investments across ten countries, with assets under management of approximately $390 million.
The partnership is part of a broader blended finance structure that allows the vehicle to offer financing on terms better suited to agricultural businesses operating with seasonal revenues, climate exposure, and long production cycles.
AgDevCo Ventures has been established by AgDevCo. Small Foundation was an early supporter of AgDevCo, providing core funding during its formative years, and its capital commitment to the new vehicle helped take it past the threshold to begin investing.
“Small Foundation was one of AgDevCo’s earliest backers and has been just as catalytic in getting AgDevCo Ventures off the ground. Its capital commitment, and the conviction and speed behind it, took us over the line to begin investing. We look forward to putting it to work alongside that of our other investors, building a portfolio of early-stage agribusinesses that create income and opportunity in rural Africa,” said Daniel Hulls, AgDevCo CEO and AgDevCo Ventures chair.
Early-stage agribusinesses often struggle to access finance that matches how their businesses operate. Their capital needs may be too large for microfinance, while commercial lenders may consider them too small, too early, or too exposed to agricultural risk.
This financing gap limits the growth of businesses that provide agricultural inputs, buy and process produce, connect farmers to markets, and create employment in rural areas.
AgDevCo Ventures will provide finance to businesses involved in input supply, production, aggregation, and processing, alongside technical assistance in financial management, agronomy, environmental and social practices, and inclusive business development.
A dedicated team based in Nairobi will manage the portfolio, supported by AgDevCo’s wider agricultural and investment experience.
Small Foundation said the partnership creates an opportunity to learn whether businesses supported at this stage can strengthen their operations, expand their relationships with smallholder farmers, and better position themselves to access further investment.
