Kenyan start-up Amini Corp has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding in an oversubscribed round, led by Pale Blue Dot, a European climate tech fund.

Other investors include Superorganism, RaliCap, W3i, Emurgo Kepple Ventures and a network of angel investors from the global technology community.

Amini is focused on solving Africa’s environmental data gap through artificial intelligence and satellite technology.

Founded in 2022 by Kate Kallot, Amini was designed to address Africa's data scarcity, facilitate capital investment, promote climate resilience, and accelerate economic development opportunities in the region.

Kallot has over a decade of experience in driving global innovation in artificial intelligence and machine learning at technology companies, such as Intel, Arm, and NVIDIA.

She has spearheaded initiatives focused on leveraging artificial intelligence and social impact to benefit the African continent. One such initiative is the United AI Alliance, which aims to bridge the AI compute gap and enhance data capabilities in emerging markets.

With Amini, Kallot and her team have developed a data aggregation and analytics platform capable of collecting, unifying, and processing a range of data, such as satellite data and weather data, down to the square metre.

The platform also provides access to valuable environmental data analytics, including drought, flood, soil and crop health.

This data can be processed to forecast crop yields for millions of smallholder farmers in seconds, as well as measuring the impact of natural disasters across the region.

Amini found its first customers in the agricultural insurance sector, using its platform's granular, verifiable, and actionable data for enhancing farmers' resilience through parametric agricultural insurance coverage.

While the company initially focused on the insurance industry, it is now experiencing rapid expansion into supply chain monitoring, specifically at the ‘last mile’, or the initial stages of the global supply chain.

In a statement, Amini says, this expansion holds significant importance for multinational companies seeking precise measurements of their carbon footprint and the ability to report on their environmental impact.

Kallot says: “We are building the single source of truth for environmental data across Africa. Data has the potential of transforming livelihoods by enabling everything from climate resilience to sustainable value chains.

“Should Amini reach its full potential and solve this problem, we are setting up Africa for tremendous transformation and development over the next decade.

“It’s a long way to get there, but the early customer success and interest from global enterprises, governments and international organisations is showing us that we’re on the right track.”

Heidi Lindvall, general partner, Pale Blue Dot, says: “The scarcity of high-quality environmental data of Africa is a concern as it prevents others from building important climate solutions, such as improving farmer insurance, monitoring climate risk or supply chains.

“When meeting the team behind Amini, we were blown away by their ambition and expertise and we believe they are best positioned to fill the environmental data gap of Africa.”