The event, now in its second year, was attended by over 300 investors, lenders, mentors and ecosystem stakeholders to engage with founders building and expanding businesses across different sectors.

Pitch Day is the final stage of Cascador’s annual Catalytic Fund programme, through which the organisation provides financing and support to founders who have completed its ScaleUp programme.

Funding is offered through a mix of debt and equity investments, with recipients selected based on business performance, growth potential and expected social impact.

The largest funding allocation went to Agriarche, led by Deina Mayaki, which secured a ₦2.5 billion debt facility. Koolboks, founded by Deborah Gael, received ₦2 billion, while Powerstove, led by Okey Esse, secured ₦1.8 billion.

Other debt recipients included First Electric, which received ₦500 million, and Fortics, which secured ₦200 million. Two companies received equity investments, with Stears obtaining $450,000 and Indigenius AI receiving $250,000.

Speaking after receiving the funding, Mayaki said the support would help boost Agriarche’s expansion plans.

“Cascador’s ScaleUp program built upon my team’s ability to translate learning into action by helping us refine our message and market position, adjust our funding strategy, and adapt without defensiveness. 

“The Catalytic Fund due diligence team assessed Agriarche’s financial strength, resourcefulness, and track record of success, and they rewarded our high-potential for scale and impact today by awarding a new N2.5 billion credit facility to power our growth.”

Cascador founder Dave DeLucia said the programme has now distributed over $9 million to entrepreneurs since Pitch Day was introduced two years ago.

“In just two years, Pitch Day has awarded more than $9 million to growth-stage African founders, helping to build a new generation of entrepreneurs equipped to scale transformative businesses.

“We’re now looking for the next cohort of exceptional founders to join our 2026 ScaleUp program and hope to see them on stage at the next Pitch Day.”

Beyond the investment awards, organisers also recognised outstanding participants. Indigenius AI received the NSIA Prize for Innovation, which came with a $10,000 award, while Koolboks won the judges’ Best Pitch prize and received an additional $10,000.

The event also featured a panel discussion on financing options for growth-stage businesses in Nigeria. Participants included Idris Bello of LoftyInc Capital, Danladi Verheijen of Verod Capital, Darlington Nwankwo of Sterling Bank, Ada Osakwe of Agrolay Ventures and Nuli, and Ijeoma Taylaur of NSIA.

The session examined how businesses can access equity financing, working capital, concessionary debt and other forms of long-term support.

Daniel Ayoade of Verod Capital Management, who served as one of the judges, alongside Iyin Aboyeji of Future Africa and Nneka Eze of Vested World, said his involvement with the programme had shown the importance of preparing founders before funding is provided.

“Two years judging Pitch Day, plus a season as faculty for the Cascador ScaleUp program, taught me something the term sheets never capture: capital readiness, not capital, is what turns funding into scale. 

“The founders on stage today walk away with customer pipelines, team training, mentorship, and bespoke support, the connective tissue that lets them multiply what they raise. This is not an accelerator. It is ecosystem architecture, and these founders are its proof.”

Two previous beneficiaries of the Catalytic Fund also shared updates on their businesses.

Babatunde Akin-Moses, founder of Sycamore, said the support received from Cascador helped strengthen the company ahead of a recent fundraising exercise.

“Truly catalytic capital should create companies that eventually no longer need it: That is what it did for Sycamore. Our recent commercial paper raise was oversubscribed by 230%.”

Drive45 founder Seyi Adefemi said access to both funding and strategic support helped the company move beyond a critical growth stage.

“There are founders across Africa solving real problems and building resilient businesses. What they often lack is the financial and non-financial support to cross the gap between potential and scale. Cascador helped Drive45 cross that gap.”

Since launching in 2019, Cascador says it has supported 70 companies that have collectively raised more than $125 million.

Applications for the next ScaleUp programme are open until June 15 for founders across sub-Saharan Africa seeking funding, mentorship and business support.

Three companies in the programme’s portfolio—Arnergy, Koolboks, and BURN Manufacturing—have collectively secured $17m million in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), boosting Nigeria’s efforts to expand access to renewable energy solutions.

These investments will provide energy for more Nigerians, reduce carbon emissions, lead to the creation of 1100 jobs, and support thousands of livelihoods.

The three companies are sustainability trailblazers:

• BURN Manufacturing, at the forefront of clean cookstove innovation, has secured $12 million in carbon investment from Key Carbon Ltd. Their new local assembly facility in Northern Nigeria will bolster distribution efforts of electric cookstoves and biomass stoves across East and Central Africa.
• Arnergy is a leading renewable energy company in Nigeria that specializes in designing and manufacturing technology-enabled solar micro-grid and rooftop solutions. With a recent $3 million bridge financing from a Shell-backed impact investment company, the company has already raised $7.5 million in their Series B fundraise.

• Koolboks is revolutionizing access to refrigeration services, particularly for underserved communities and women entrepreneurs through their solar-powered cooling systems. Their pay-as-you-go technology and accessible business model has attracted a 5-million-euro subsidy from Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA), for launch and expansion in Uganda.

Commenting on the development, Jonny Baxter, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, said:

“The UK Government supports the ambition of the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope agenda: to boost private-sector led economic growth in Nigeria. We’re funding the Manufacturing Africa programme to provide free advisory services to companies raising finance to expand their capabilities and create new jobs in Nigeria. It’s great to see these companies realise their goals with UK support.”

Lolade Alonge, Business Communications Manager at Koolboks stated,

“Manufacturing Africa’s financial advisory support when raising our ‘Series A’ came in very handy and has helped us secure funds that will assist with our expansion plans.”

The advisory services that #ManufacturingAfrica provided to these firms included financial analysis, modeling, commercial diligence analysis and strategic business planning.

To date, Manufacturing Africa has supported 31 Nigerian companies in their journey to raise investment, in sectors including agri-processing, industrial parks, pharmaceuticals, vehicle manufacturing, e-mobility, and renewable energy.

The programme has helped to attract $85 million into Nigeria’s manufacturing sector since 2020.

Koolboks will deploy the capital to scale its expansion across Nigeria, including building its team to support its growing B2C business and construction of a local assembly facility in the country. The company also opened an affiliate office in Kenya in July, 2022. 

Founded in 2018 in France, Koolboks, combines Africa’s abundant supply of the sun with water to create a solution that is able to generate refrigeration for up to four days in the absence of power and sunlight.

Through efficiently harnessing natural resources, Koolboks has made it affordable to access continuous refrigeration by integrating a  pay-as-you-go technology that enables individuals and small businesses to pay as low as 10 dollars a month to own an offgrid  solar refrigerator. The Koolboks unit works as a refrigerator, freezer, or lighting for households and shops.

It also comes with 2 LED lighting bulbs and USB ports for charging mobile phones – making the product invaluable to users in off-grid areas. Koolboks currently sells across 16 countries, 13 of them in sub-Saharan Africa*. 

Koolboks hopes to help reduce food waste and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions drastically.

The company’s ice thermal refrigeration technology reduces CO2 emissions, displacing the use of diesel, and by incorporating R600a, an environmentally friendly refrigerant.

The off-grid refrigeration market is worth $4.4 billion, and is growing at a rate of 7%, according to the Efficiency for Access Coalition.

With 770 million people across SSA lacking proper access to electricity, and only 17% having access to refrigeration, Koolboks is striving to close the gap in equitable access to clean, readily available energy.

Commenting on the opportunity to empower more small businesses with access to affordable cold storage solutions, Ayoola Dominic, CEO of Kooboks said, “Poor energy access, high costs of buying and running generators, and the relatively high cost of cooling prevent many African businesses and households from accessing refrigeration when it’s most critically needed.

We believe that people can make their livelihoods and feed their families by relying on energy from natural resources – energy from the sun, wind and water that are abundant around us. It’s a win for the people, a win for us, a win for our investors and a win for the planet. 

“We are excited to work with some of the world’s leading impact investors as we focus on empowering many more users across more countries in Africa and globally.

Importantly for us, we are also appreciative to partner with local impact investors such as Aruwa Capital Management, who understand the demand and market dynamics, having operated across the continent for many years; their experience and network will be invaluable to us as we scale.”

Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder at Aruwa Capital Management added, “We have been impressed with Koolboks’s innovative solution which goes far beyond food waste reduction – the team’s laser focus on ensuring clean renewable energy in off-grid areas is crucial to the survival of many small businesses and sectors as well as fostering economic gender equality.

Equitable access to clean and reliable energy is key to closing the gender economic gap across rural areas and we are excited to see Koolboks’ expansion continue to make economic equity a reality for millions more women across Africa.” 

Millions of people in Africa and other emerging markets experience unreliable power access daily with the national power grid supply being erratic and inconsistent to both rural and urban households and businesses.

For some, it is often difficult to conduct and operate activities to earn a living with most turning to small-scale, toxic diesel-fueled generators to provide electricity.

Koolboks is striving to enable nations to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 7 and empower businesses across a range of sectors including healthcare, food, hospitality and medicine with its innovative cold storage solutions.