Egyptian solar irrigation startup NoorNation raises $1.05 million to take pay-as-you-go water pumps into Sub-Saharan Africa
The seed round, backed by Egyptian agribusiness Linah Farms, Catalyst Fund and Saudi Arabia's KBW Ventures, funds factory capacity and a push into new markets including the region south of the Sahara.
NoorNation, an Egyptian clean energy company founded in 2021, has raised $1.05 million in seed funding to expand its solar-powered irrigation business and extend its pay-per-use model to more farmers. Tech in Africa reported the raise on 29 October 2026.
The round drew money from three investors: Linah Farms, an Egyptian agribusiness group that was previously a customer, Catalyst Fund, a climate-focused investor, and KBW Ventures, a Saudi Arabia-based fund led by Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed.
NoorNation was started by Ragy Ramadan and Mohamed Khaled. It builds decentralised renewable energy and water systems aimed at places where grid electricity is unreliable and irrigation depends on diesel pumping. Its core product is Solar Irrigation-as-a-Service, which lets a farmer pay hourly or as they go for solar-powered irrigation rather than carrying the upfront cost of installing panels, pumps and batteries. It also makes LifeBox, a combined solar system that supplies electricity and water for irrigation, desalination and other uses where infrastructure is thin.
The company says it will put the new money into manufacturing capacity, faster deployment, entry into additional markets and widening the pay-per-use service to more farmers. Its stated reach already includes Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa, so the expansion is aimed at the same smallholder and commercial farming customers the model was built for.
The numbers behind the pitch come largely from Linah Farms installations. Solar irrigation at farms in Bahariya Oasis has saved more than $58,000 in diesel costs, according to founder Ragy Ramadan, and a renewable energy project at Sultan Gardens Resort in Sharm El Sheikh has cut electricity costs by over $43,000. Other installations include solar and battery systems at an agricultural school. Five further solar projects in Bahariya and West Minya carry a combined capacity of about 1.13 megawatt-peak, and the projects delivered or under development for Linah Group come to roughly 1.71 megawatt-peak.
For South African readers, the model is the interesting part. Solar irrigation sold by the hour, rather than bought as hardware, shifts the capital cost off a farmer’s balance sheet and onto a service provider. That is the same logic behind the pay-as-you-go solar home systems and rental models that have spread across East and Southern Africa, and it is a live question for South African agriculture, where diesel pumping for irrigation is a direct input cost on many farms and where load shedding has pushed growers towards on-site generation.
The company has not named which markets it will enter next, and the source material does not say whether South Africa is among them. Catalyst Fund’s participation marks the round as climate finance, a category that has been growing across the continent but remains small relative to the capital needed to replace diesel pumping at scale. At current rates, $1.05 million is a modest sum against that task, and the company’s own figures suggest the returns are being measured farm by farm, in diesel and electricity bills avoided.
NoorNation’s bet is that a farmer who does not have to find the full price of a solar array will still pay for the water it delivers. The seed round buys it the factory capacity to test that at a larger scale.
