Pears Challenge 2025: ClimateTech Validation Trip

Written by Roni Levy and David Mendelbaum

This year’s Pears Challenge 2025 ClimateTech cohort has just returned from Kenya - full of insight and opportunities, sharpened strategy, and genuine excitement. Over two intense weeks, our founders met the people, landscapes, and institutions that will shape the future of their ventures. And across every metric- engagement, partnerships, field validation, and concrete next steps- this was our most successful validation trip yet.

How We Got Here: Months of Work Leading to a Transformative Moment

The validation trip to Kenya wasn’t a standalone experience - it was the culmination of months of intense work inside the Pears Challenge program.

Back in May, a cohort of early-stage ventures joined Pears Challenge 2025 with a shared mission: to build climate resilience solutions bold enough and grounded enough to succeed in the East African market. Over the following months, they went through a rapid but rigorous process - diving deep into market realities, refining their technologies, mapping assumptions and engaging with mentors.  

Throughout the process, one message remained constant: real validation happens in the field, with the people facing these challenges every day.

By November, the ventures had received endorsement from field partners, remotely validated their value propositions, built initial partnerships, and identified the critical unknowns they needed to resolve. The Kenya validation trip became the pivotal next step - a chance to confront those questions directly, understand market dynamics from the ground up, and explore where their solutions could create the most meaningful impact.

A Powerful Start: Connecting Two Climate Innovation Ecosystems

The trip began with a high-energy Business Seminar hosted together with the Israeli Trade & Economic Mission to Kenya. Dozens of Kenyan organizations, from agritech firms to investors and global development agencies, came to meet the cohort, share needs from the field, and explore collaboration.

By the end of the first day, it was clear: the demand for practical, scalable ClimateTech solutions across Kenya is immense. And our ventures had arrived at exactly the right time.

The business seminar generated 169 B2B meetings with 62 different companies and institutions, and throughout the validation trip, the delegation met with leading organizations, including: UNEP, GSMA, Solidaridad, Kenya Climate Innovation Center, IDH, CultivAid, World Vision and more, who expressed high interest in engaging with the ventures and potentially implementing their technologies in different capacities. 

Stories from the Field: Where the Real Work Happened

What truly set this trip apart was the depth and seriousness of the field validation. Each venture traveled independently across Kenya- north to Turkana, west to Kisumu, east into Machakos, and deep into the Rift Valley- meeting farmers, county leaders, private companies, cooperatives, and community partners.

ProjectAgrow — Turning Air Into Water in the Arid North

ProjectAgrow, which develops off-grid irrigation systems powered by condensation, traveled to Turkana, one of Africa's driest regions. Together with Hydroponics Africa, they surveyed vast areas of land reliant on boreholes, met farmers in contract-farming programs, and closely mapped the realities of water scarcity.

They then held a series of meetings with IsraAid, LWF, and other organizations, expressing interest in supporting a pilot.

The Result: ProjectAgrow left Turkana with a clear pilot site, committed local partners, and a roadmap for deployment.

AgriBiO₃ - Fighting Maize Post-Harvest Loss From a Tuk-Tuk

AgriBiO₃, creators of a mobile ozone-powered grain sanitation service mounted on a tuk-tuk, secured strong interest from investors and partners, established R&D collaborations with two major Kenyan universities, and identified opportunities with large-volume maize players such as the Kambusu Cooperative and county officials in Machakos alongside global organizations working to improve smallholder farmers’ resilience and support efficiency in agri-supply chains. Behind these organizations are vast networks of farmers, agro-dealers, aggregators, and mills that may be the early adopters of such systems and benefit from this innovation.

Farmers and cooperative leaders responded positively: a decentralized sanitation service could be transformational in reducing aflatoxin, protecting harvests, and improving market access. Their insights point to redesigning product features to meet real market needs, with future expansion into drying and peanut treatment.

Laguna Innovation - Treating Wastewater at the Last Mile

Laguna Innovation traveled to Kisumu, where they met with Fresh Life and county leadership to explore sanitation challenges and potential deployment sites. In Nairobi, the team engaged with a wide range of private-sector stakeholders interested in decentralized sanitation solutions. These included centralized wastewater authorities looking for complementary off-load systems to ease pressure on municipal infrastructure, as well as players in ecotourism, real estate, and agriculture seeking sustainable wastewater treatment options.

Together, they examined how Laguna’s sludge-free, decentralized system could strengthen sanitation, reduce environmental impact, and recover water for reuse. Across discussions, several high-priority use cases emerged where Laguna’s solution could deliver immediate value.

A pilot and system deployment roadmap is now under examination with several Kenyan partners.

Eden Materials — Circular Plastics Straight From the Farm

Eden Materials, which produces affordable compostable plastics from agricultural waste, explored opportunities in Kakamega and Bungoma -Kenya’s sugarcane heartland.

Meetings with county officials, universities, sugar mills, and processors revealed strong support for a circular pilot using sugarcane waste. A suitable industrial test site was identified, along with multiple real-world use cases for biodegradable plastic products.

The interest in sourcing agri waste as well as partnering to create a first-of-its-kind facility for Eden Materials was great in both counties.

SoilSight - Putting Soil Health at the Center of Regenerative Agriculture

SoilSight spent their trip in Laikipia, Bungoma and Trans Nzoia, getting their hands literally in the soil. Alongside wheat and maize farmers, they validated their soil risk and health assessment tool- combining farmer-generated data with satellite imagery, and initiated a potential partnership with Pepea Capital to integrate soil insights into regenerative finance models.

Feezability - Speeding Up Climate-Smart Investment Decisions

Feezability, an AI-driven feasibility analysis platform, held targeted meetings in Naivasha with leading agribusinesses as well as KCB Bank and investment advisory firm Agri Frontier.

These discussions highlighted a clear gap in rapid, data-driven feasibility for climate-smart agricultural investments, precisely the problem Feezibility solves.

They return with concrete pilot opportunities and a refined product direction tailored specifically to Kenyan partners.

Returning Home With Real Momentum

When the cohort landed back in Israel, they brought home far more than insights.

They returned with: 

• New pilot opportunities across multiple counties 

• Letters of intent, signed NDAs, and MoUs in motion 

• Strong local partners ready to collaborate • Product assumptions recalibrated for Kenyan and East African conditions 

• A sharper understanding of how their technologies can power climate resilience

This trip was not just successful, it was catalytic. The relationships built in Kenya, the field learnings gathered, and the opportunities unlocked will shape the impact of these ventures long after the trip has ended.