Our investment
Description of the investment.
Description of the investment.
This investment is part of our 'VC Scale-up' strategy to support the growth of the most impactful companies in our venture capital funds portfolio. Our investment in Apollo Agriculture will help improve economic opportunities for smallholder farmers while strengthening their resilience to climate-related hazards. Apollo plans to reach more than 2.3 million low-income farmers primarily across Kenya by 2026. Apollo's customers report significant positive changes across quality of life, productivity, and income stability with the average customer estimated to produce 2.6 times more than the average Kenyan farmer.
Impact information
Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.
Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.
What?
| Impact |
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How?
| How? |
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By offering a bundling of financing, farmer inputs and tools, climate-smart advisory, and climate insurance – each of which address core bottlenecks for the African farmer – Apollo increases farmer yield and profitability per acre. The investment will expand Apollo’s offering vertically (connecting farmers to buyers through a marketplace) and horizontally (into new crops), further increasing scale and depth of economic impacts for farmers. |
Who?
| Stakeholder | Geography | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Customers (farmers) |
Kenya |
43 per cent of Apollo farmers live on less than $3.2 per day and 71 per cent live below $5.5 per day. 44 per cent of farmers served are female and the average age of an Apollo customer is 49. Average total farm acreage of Apollo customers is 1.67 (median 1.02) and the average household size is 5.9. |
How much?
| Scale | Depth/Duration |
|---|---|
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Grow farmer reach from 65,000 in 2021 to 2.3 million by 2026. |
Increased quality of life (84 per cent of customers), increased productivity (75 per cent of customers), and improved income stability (66 per cent of customers) are key positive outcomes reported by Apollo farmers. The average Apollo customer is estimated to produce 2.6 times the output compared to Kenyan average (20 bags per acre compared to average Kenyan maize yields of 7.6 bags per acre). Given farmers' exposure to significant climate hazards and risks – including droughts and floods – the impact of Apollo’s bundled offering of financing with climate-smart advice, input, and climate insurance is expected to be deep and transformative. |
Contribution/additionality
| Contribution/additionality |
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Risk
Execution Risk
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Impact score
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Impact score (at point of investment)
The Impact Score is a tool to help us manage our performance against our strategic impact objectives. It is designed to incentivise investments that support our productive, sustainable, and inclusive objectives. You can find out more here. The Impact Score is published for investments made from 2022 onwards. The Impact Scores are calculated at the point of investment. We publish the Impact Scores of new investments annually, once the information has been externally assured by an independent third party. |
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Environmental and social information
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Environmental and social summary
A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.
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Environmental and social risk
A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.
Environmental and social summary
We partnered with our fund manager to invest in this company, including by relying on our fund manager's ESDD.
Environmental and social risk
Low
Reporting and Complaints Mechanism
The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to reportsandcomplaints@bii.co.uk or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.
For any other general enquiries contact us at enquiries@bii.co.uk
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Key facts
- Last updated
:
When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.
- June 2024
- Project number
:
An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.
- D5502
- Status
:
The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).
- Active
- Region
:
The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.
- East Africa
- Country
:
The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.
- Kenya
- Sector
:
We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.
- Food & Agriculture
- Investment type :
- Equity
- Start date :
- March 2022
- Amount :
- $2m
- Currency of investment :
- USD
- Domicile
:
The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.
- USA
We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.
For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.
For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.
For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.
For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.
For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.
For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.
The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.
For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.
The currency in which the investment was made.
- Climate finance
:
Indicates whether the investment is climate finance qualified or partially climate finance qualified and the type of climate finance (adaptation, mitigation or both). We define climate finance using the multilateral development bank (MDB) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) Common Principles climate finance methodology. See Common Principles for Climate Mitigation Finance Tracking and Common Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Finance Tracking. We provide the climate finance qualification and type for commitments from 2020 onwards, which is when we launched our Climate Change Strategy.
- Fully qualified
- Climate finance type:
- Adaptation
- Last updated
