For Livestock Start-ups
Call for Applications
Are you an African start-up building a technology-driven venture in dairy or aquaculture? Are you ready to scale your impact and attract investment?
What we offer
A one-year, tailor-made support programme including:
- Up to €15,000 in technical assistance budget for consultancies, expert support, legal advice, online marketing, licenses, certifications, ESG governance, product optimisation, market entry strategies, customer acquisition & sales campaigns, marketing & PR, graphic design, employee training, and more.
- Fully sponsored trips to two in-person community events back-to-back with the Sankalp Africa Summit in Nairobi (February of each year), and one additional sector conference.
- Investment and partnership facilitation through invite-only pitch sessions with a curated network of investors, bespoke introductions to investors & funds, guidance on fundraising strategy and due diligence.
- A community of 100+ portfolio companies.
Additional opportunities for eligible start-ups:
- SAIS Scale-up Grant of up to €40,000 that supports start-ups from the SAIS community that are ready to scale their market reach and deepen their impact.
- Access to revolving working capital loans of up to €50,000 with 9-month maturity at 1.5% interest.
Since 2019:
SAIS has accelerated more than 107 start-ups, of which over 83% have received follow-on investments during or within one year after the programme, collectively raising over $105m.
What we look for
We are looking for innovative, technology-driven start-ups strengthening livestock value chains across Africa, with a particular focus on:
Dairy: Animal health, genetics, feed and forage, particularly relevant to dairy value chains in East Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia).
Aquaculture: Genetics and feed innovations, particularly relevant to aquaculture value chains in West Africa (Nigeria and Senegal).
Start-ups based in other African countries are equally encouraged to apply, these must prove that their innovations, solutions or business models offer relevant learnings or opportunities to strengthen these priority value chains.
Eligibility Criteria
Geography & Legal-Entity
For-profit and registered in Africa
Team
Management team of at least two people
Fundraising Stage
Pre-seed through Series A
Traction
At least MVP, ideally recurring revenue, paying customers and established partnerships
Impact Alignment
Strengthening value chains in dairy and aquaculture
Tech Angle
Use tech to scale
How the programme works
No equity taken. No generic accelerator curriculum. Instead, you receive tailored, hands-on support from a dedicated SAIS Navigator to address your company's most pressing growth and investmentreadiness challenges.
To make the most of the programme, selected start-ups are expected to:
- Dedicate time: Appoint a member of the management team as the main SAIS contact, committing an average of two hours per week throughout the programme.
- Participate in community events: Send at least one team member to two in-person SAIS community events (SAIStival).
- Share progress data: Provide regular updates on key business indicators, including revenue, users, customers, funding raised and employees, throughout the programme and for at least one year afterwards. All data will be handled in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.
- Support impact assessments: Facilitate access to customers or clients for surveys assessing the impact of your product, service or technology.
- Collaborate with experts: Work actively with assigned experts and service providers to implement agreed support measures, including sharing relevant business information and documents where necessary.
Programme Timeline
- 15 November 2026: Deadline to apply.
- 16 - 30 November 2026: Screening and interviews with applicants.
- December 2026: Communication of selection decision.
- January 2027: Virtual kick-off and onboarding.
- 22. February 2027: SAIStival 2027, Nairobi, Kenya.
- 24 - 25 February 2027: Sankalp Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
- March 2027 to February 2028: Deployment of the investment readiness programme services & budget for your support needs, an additional conference visit and virtual check-ins with your SAIS advisor.
- February 2028: Graduation at SAIStival 2028.
Who we are
The SAIS Investment Readiness Programme is offered by ‘Scaling Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups (SAIS)’, a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and co-funded by the Gates Foundation. You can find more information about us on this very website or on our LinkedIn.