Kate Kallot, Amini Corp founder.

Amini Corp, a climate tech business based in Kenya, has raised $4 million in seed capital. Salesforce Ventures, Salesforce's worldwide investment arm, and Female Founders Fund, a seed stage venture fund that only invests in female-founded firms, led the round.

Amini is a female-led start-up that uses AI and satellite technologies to help close Africa's environmental data gap.

Amini just recently $2 million in pre-seed fundraising in an oversubscribed round headed by Pale Blue Dot, a European Climate Tech fund.

Other investors in the pre seed round included Superorganism, RaliCap, W3i, Emurgo Kepple Ventures, and a global network of angel investors.

Amini was founded by Kate Kallot, with the goal of creating an African environmental data collection and intelligence infrastructure.

The platform enables the development of real-time monitoring tools and machine learning models to provide insights into such areas as soil health and water use to flood detection and crop health, at the farm level.

Amini was launched a year ago at COP27, and Amini is due to be present at this year's COP28, held in the UAE.

Commenting on the latest funding raise, Claudine Emeott, VP, Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund, said Amini.ai's was driven by a ‘visionary team’ and had a ‘commitment to push the boundaries of climate AI’.

Aon’s Ciara Jackson, global food, agribusiness and beverage leader, Enterprise Client Group, said: “We believe that this technology offers new opportunities for corporates, farmers, and regulators as they try to close the loop around agricultural value chains.

“We hope that the collaboration between Aon and Amini will create further opportunities to strengthen supply chains and accelerate our climate transition.”

Amini’s CEO Kallot said: “We are building technology that is designed specifically for Africa to lead an economic transformation for the continent’s one billion people. By de-risking the ‘first mile’ of the global agricultural value chain through enhanced transparency, data access, and greater economic inclusion for farmers, we have a unique opportunity to kick-start positive feedback loops, which will transform global food systems.

“As new regulation in the U.S. and Europe compels corporations to disclose the climate risks in their supply chains, this new investment from Salesforce Ventures and Female Founders Fund will accelerate the scaling of our business and data infrastructure platform, enabling sustainable growth and powering our business expansion.”

Anu Duggal, founding partner, Female Founders Fund, said: “Amini is on course to establish the most extensive environmental data collection and intelligence network across the continent.

“With Sub-Saharan Africa boasting 65% of the world's untapped arable land, Amini's data will provide farmers with critical insights for optimal practices, potentially catalysing a development wave capable of feeding the world, as climate change increasingly impacts global food sources.”