Shell Foundation is excited to share insights from EchoVC’s inaugural Eco Pilot Fund, launched in partnership with UKaid through our Transforming Energy Access programme. The Fund set out with a bold mission: to support elite African founders tackling climate and climate-adjacent challenges with early-stage solutions that both cut emissions and boost incomes, transforming underserved markets. Its focus aligned with Shell Foundation’s three core areas: smallholder farmers, urban transporters, and micro-entrepreneurs.
By deploying $2.75 million across 15 pioneering companies, the initiative revealed both the scale of opportunity and the structural barriers in Africa’s climate tech sector. Founders often face long R&D cycles and policy hurdles, particularly women-led and science-driven teams. Early-stage capital is frequently too small, inflexible, or delayed to meet the needs of these ventures. Gender disparity remains stark, with male-only teams receiving 85% of funding while women-only teams capture less than 1%. At the same time, service innovation often outpaces infrastructure, creating “invisible” markets that are full of untapped potential.
Shell Foundation’s investment helped portfolio companies leverage one to three times additional capital, enabling them to grow faster and reach more customers. EchoVC actively worked to overcome these gaps, achieving a portfolio where 50% of the companies were co-founded by women and focusing on catalytic capital to help pilots scale into sustainable businesses—especially women-led, science-heavy ventures.
The Eco Pilot Fund demonstrates that with the right support, African founders can turn hidden opportunities into thriving climate solutions, proving that innovation and impact go hand in hand.
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