AntuGrow, a data analytics company based in Nairobi, Kenya emerged as the most impressive startup at the just concluded Near Horizon (HZN2) Accelerator program.
Antugrow leverages blockchain technology to provide farmers with a transparent and efficient platform for accessing affordable financing. The company uses harvest records and satellite data to create precise credit scores for farmers that are stored as anonymized on-chain wallets. These wallets are matched to a DeFi liquidity pool for financing as per a farmer’s capital requirements and credit status.
While at the program, Antugrow’s team accomplished the set milestones for project progress, achieved mainnet on NEAR and onboarded users and partners within the 8-week program. The project was ranked first scoring 110 points based on a set of metrics including the highlighted ones.
Horizon (HZN) is a Web3 accelerator by the NEAR Foundation to get startups building on the NEAR protocol to be investor-ready. Antugrow was one of 29 projects participating in what was the second cohort of the accelerator, with 4 African participants:
- Antugrow
- Storehub
- Joysticklabs
- Oakchain
And THAT's a WRAP…
After 8 weeks of hard work, and 2 incredible demo days, we closed out #HZN2 with one last meeting 🚀🚀🚀Thank you to all of you! @sukuriprotocol @partagexyz @GetsecuredAI @Antugrow @oakchain_ @momentify_xyz @hellomenopausey @quex_tech @Djooky3 @Chainplug_1… pic.twitter.com/tiEZZ6gkdF
— NEAR Horizon (@nearhorizon) March 15, 2024
Antugrow’s says its mission is to connect capital to any farmer in the world. Conventional financing of farmers is considered risky by financiers due to uncertainty in harvest outcomes and a lack of reliable collateral and records, which ends up making traditional lenders charge high interest rates to farmers, the firm says.
Field tests by the team while conducting ground truthing of prior satellite data.
Talk to us for accurate crop health and soil assessments anywhere in Kenya.
📞 +254 716 183 777
📨 [email protected]https://t.co/s8dz3Tz3fG ⚡ pic.twitter.com/flYKCgMPPo— Antugrow (@Antugrow) March 1, 2024
“The achievement serves as great motivation to our team, and is a great signal that Africa’s web3 builder scene is coming of age…it would be great seeing more technical founders sharing their projects in similar global programs. I highly recommend Horizon given the progress we have achieved since we joined the accelerator,” said CEO Eddie Kago.
“We are currently piloting our model in Kiambu and several regions in Western Kenya. Our near term target is opening up our API for other builders to explore extra possibilities.”
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