FarmSlate, a startup aimed at connecting smallholder farmers with financiers, emerged as the winner of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Agritech Hackathon 2024, receiving a N3.5 million grant. FarmSlate’s winning solution, leveraging artificial intelligence, IoT, and geospatial analytics, will soon undergo further development in a venture-building program.
The FCMB Agritech Hackathon, organized by Heave Ventures and supported by the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), called for impactful innovations to address core agricultural issues such as credit access, food security, and sustainable infrastructure. AgroGuardians, with its crop disease identification tool providing actionable recommendations in English and local languages, secured the second prize of N2 million, while CarbonEx, focused on funding regenerative farming through carbon reduction, took home N1.5 million.
Alongside these top winners, seven other promising startups—Agrocist, Seedo, Dinerpro Agroecosystems, Growsmart, Coconoto, Kaloka, and PAYGO Microinsurance—will enter the venture-building phase, where they will receive coaching in customer discovery, MVP design, Go-To-Market strategies, and fundraising. This phase will conclude with a Demo Day event, where participants will pitch for a share of N16 million in additional funding, in front of investors, media, and other stakeholders.
Kudzai Gumunyu, divisional head of Agribusiness at FCMB, reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to advancing agribusiness through digitalization and agritech, underscoring the multiplier effect of these initiatives on rural economies. “By fostering agribusiness funding and capacity building, we aim to enhance agricultural productivity and food security across Nigeria,” Gumunyu said.
FarmSlate’s founder, Ifeoluwa Olatayo, shared appreciation for the opportunity, noting, “The FCMB Hackathon helped us communicate our problem-solution statement effectively. Winning this validation prepares us for scaling up through the venture-building phase.”
The hackathon drew over 1,000 applications from across Africa, with judges selecting winners based on solution innovativeness, scalability, and potential impact on the agricultural sector. The venture-building program’s ultimate goal is to enable these agritech innovations to make tangible, lasting impacts across underserved communities in Africa.
