The investment firm has established the $70 million Persistent Africa Climate Venture Fund (Persistent ACV Fund), which has already secured $52 million at its first close.

The fund also includes a $5 million Venture Building Facility, designed to provide hands-on operational and strategic support to climate startups as they grow.  

The Persistent ACV Fund is structured as an early-stage climate investment fund based in Mauritius.

It will back climate-focused ventures operating across Africa and will be supported by Persistent’s venture-building platform, which provides entrepreneurs with both capital and technical support to help develop and scale their businesses.  

The fund will focus primarily on companies at the pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages, while also reserving the ability to invest additional capital in portfolio companies that demonstrate strong growth potential at later stages.

The strategy is intended to address the persistent funding gap facing early-stage climate startups on the continent.

Persistent ACV, the fund’s general partner, will oversee the vehicle, while Persistent Energy Capital, a U.S.-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage climate ventures in Africa, will act as the fund’s advisor.

The fund was developed by Persistent in partnership with FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi), which also serves as one of its anchor investors.

Other anchor backers include the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), an international development finance institution from the Nordic countries that supports climate and development initiatives, and the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a multi-donor facility managed by the African Development Bank that supports renewable energy and energy access projects across the continent.

Several other institutions have also committed capital to the fund, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan’s official development agency; the Soros Economic Development Fund, the impact investment arm of the Open Society Foundations; Impact Fund Denmark, Denmark’s development finance institution; the Schmidt Family Foundation in the United States; and the Cottier Donzé Foundation, a Swiss philanthropic organization based in Küsnacht.

The initiative comes at a time when climate investment in Africa is gaining momentum, with development finance institutions and impact investors increasingly directing capital toward clean energy, sustainable agriculture, electric mobility, and circular economy solutions across the continent.