Editor’s note: African-Startups is a sister publication of EU-Startups, bringing trusted coverage of startups, venture capital, and innovation across Africa.
Jambaar Capital, the female-led VC fund for Africa’s tech startups, has announced an investment in TrashCoin, a digital waste management platform that rewards communities across Africa for depositing recyclable waste. The deal comes just a week after Jambaar had invested in OKO and showcases the rising investor interest in sustainability-driven business models across the continent.
Based in Dakar, Jambaar Capital is a venture capital firm backing early-stage technology companies addressing critical market gaps across Francophone Africa and beyond. Its investment portfolio includes financial access, healthcare, food systems, and essential services, with a geographic focus on North and West Africa. The firm looks for founding teams with strong founder-market fit and places emphasis on backing underrepresented founders, including women.
“We’re drawn to founders who see broken systems as opportunities – and TrashCoin is doing exactly that, creating economic value from what others treat as waste,” Jambaar Capital said on LinkedIn.
TrashCoin was founded by Nnodim Eliot Wogu, Phebe Ilesanmi, and Damilola Daramola in 2021 on a simple yet rewarding premise. Users deposit recyclable materials such as plastic, glass, metals, and cardboard at designated collection points and receive credits directly into their digital wallet. Those credits can be redeemed as cash or used to pay for utilities, health insurance, school fees, or mobile data.
The model borrows from Germany’s long-running plastic deposit refund scheme but re-engineers it for African markets, where formal recycling infrastructure is sparse, and waste is mostly handled informally. Headquartered in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the startup also has a presence in Berlin and the United States.
In addition to its consumer-facing wallet, TrashCoin also operates a marketplace connecting households, informal waste pickers, and recycling companies with an escrow system for secure transactions between parties. The company says its operations are already diverting enough material from landfills and roadsides to offset more than 750 tonnes of CO2 emissions monthly.
With a stated ambition of becoming Africa’s preferred incentivised trash collection system, TrashCoin’s biggest success lies in extending economic opportunity to the most marginalised workers in its communities. Its model takes aim at solving two pressing problems in Africa: solid waste management and access to formal financial services.
While channelling recycled waste into a digital financial system may not be a new idea, TrashCoin’s adaptation for the African market has proven successful. With Jambaar Capital’s backing, a VC firm that prides itself on active and engaged ownership, the startup can aim to extend its collection network and grow its user base.
