Insights from the Field

A collection of articles, news, and thought pieces to keep you informed.

Featured Posts

Prize

GreenPod Labs Wins $50K Post-Harvest Loss Innovation Prize

Factor E Ventures | Oct 03, 2024

GreenPod Labs Secures $50K Post-Harvest Loss Innovation Prize for Groundbreaking Active Packaging Solution London, UK...

Press Release

Open Access Energy Secures $750,000, Launching $1.5 Million Seed Round

Factor E | Aug 12, 2024

    Cape Town, South Africa - August 12, 2024 Open Access Energy (OAE), a...

Prize

$50,000 Post-Harvest Loss Innovation Prize

Factor E Ventures | Jun 26, 2024

We are seeking groundbreaking solutions that empower smallholder farmers in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa...

Press Release

Giraffe Bioenergy Receives Grant to Scale Sustainable Ethanol Production in Kenya

AmpUp Consortium | Jun 03, 2024

Giraffe Bioenergy, a company dedicated to creating rural economic opportunities through large-scale cassava cultivation that...

Portfolio Metrics

Investments
Made

30

Portfolio Operating
Countries

44

Direct Full-Time Jobs Created

1425

Sustainable Livelihoods
Improved

53

Million

Greenhouse Gas
Emission Reduction

3

Million Metric Tons

Recent Posts

Research Insights

Solar Water Pump Market Sizing with Apollo Agriculture

| Dec 13, 2018

With the help of our portfolio company, Apollo Agriculture, we recently developed research methods to study...

Factor[e] Field Trip: Hands-On Look at Pump Applications

| Dec 10, 2018

Getting our hands dirty is fundamental to work at Factor[e]. We find immense benefit in,...

Article - Stanford Innovation Review

In Defense of “Doing Too Much”

| Mar 28, 2018

Seth Silverman Principal and Director of Africa Operations at Factor[e] Ventures recently wrote the following excerpt...

Entrepreneur in Residence – East Africa

| Mar 05, 2018

Factor[e] Venture’s Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) program seeks to empower East African entrepreneurs through support...

Income Generating Appliances: Data Collection and Research

| Feb 21, 2018

In an earlier blog post, we indicated that powering income generating appliances with high-penetration renewable energy...

Looking for Sanitation Innovation? Urine Luck!

| Feb 15, 2018

Today, 2.4 billion people around the world lack access to improved sanitation services and over...

A Simple Machine Changes Lives of Farmers in Rural Maharashtra!

| Oct 09, 2017

By: Atreya Pal “Ten years ago, I could not even believe that I would be an...

Waste-to-Value Pilot for Livelihood Improvement in Gujarat

| Oct 09, 2017

Waste-to-Value Pilot for Livelihood Improvement in Gujarat in Partnership with Tata Trusts and Factor[e] Ventures...

The Problem with Productive Use Appliances

| Oct 09, 2017

*For an update on what we’re doing in this area, please see this post.* “The minigrid...

Crofarm Factor[e] Ventures

Factor[e] Ventures and Crofarm Announces Partnership!

| Sep 27, 2017

Factor[e] Ventures is excited to announce our first Indian investment with agriculture technology firm, Crofarm....

Preserving Produce: Factor[e] Presents ColdHubs

| Sep 13, 2016

Factor[e] Ventures welcomes another promising company to its portfolio. ColdHubs founder Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu’s foray into...

Portfolio News

Redavia Achieves Financial Milestone

| Sep 13, 2016

Efforts to bring low-cost energy to some of Africa’s poorest countries just got a major...

SparkMeter Ups Impact Potential Through Mobile Money Integration

| Sep 13, 2016

Factor[e] portfolio company, SparkMeter, offers a metering solution to energy providers in underserved markets. We welcomed...

No Wasted Opportunities: Factor[e] Presents Sistema Biobolsa

| Sep 13, 2016

Factor[e] Ventures is excited to announce investment in a new portfolio company. Meet Alexander Eaton...

Factor[e] Opinion

Rural electrification: Time to get messy?

| Sep 13, 2016

The story goes that Franklin D Roosevelt first took an interest in rural electrification while...

Factor[e] Hosts New Portfolio Companies For Venture Bootcamp

| Mar 08, 2016

FACTOR[e] recently welcomed our two new portfolio companies ColdHubs and Sistema Biobolsa to Fort Collins for our venture bootcamp,...