Ghanaian startups Rivia and VDL Fulfillment have raised a combined US$350,000 in funding from the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility, a $4 million pilot investment facility aimed at identifying founders often overlooked by traditional investors.
Managed by Village Capital with funding from the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility aims to provide early-stage capital for startups in Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania that are advancing climate resilience and economic mobility.
The facility runs a locally-led investment model, partnering with in-market entrepreneur support organisations (ESOs) that help identify strong founder teams, shape investment pipelines, and advise on due diligence. In Ghana, Reach for Change and Innovation Spark partnered with Village Capital to shape the investment pipeline, ensuring capital is aligned with the realities on the ground.
Rivia Clinics, a tech-enabled primary healthcare startup, and VDL Fulfilment, an e-commerce logistics platform built for African SMEs, both based in Accra, are the first two investments through the facility. Rivia has received US$200,000 to support its growth, while VDL banked a US$150,000 investment to enable the company to strengthen its warehouse and fulfillment infrastructure, expand its fleet, and develop distributed hubs closer to demand.
“Access to this type of capital allows us to build at the speed our operations can actually support, not at the speed capital usually demands. In a logistics environment like ours, premature scale creates inefficiencies that compound quickly,” said Vanessa Omari, CEO at VDL Fulfilment.
“Rivia and VDL are strong examples of the businesses emerging across Ghana – founders building practical solutions to real, everyday challenges, from accessing quality healthcare to moving goods more efficiently. What stands out is the impact both companies are already having, driven by their deep understanding of the problems their customers face and the environments they operate in,” said Heather Matranga, managing director of venture and investments at Village Capital.
These investments represent the first in a broader series of deployments planned across Ghana, Tanzania, and Nigeria.