BleagLee Secures $450,000 for Flood-Resilient Waste Tech

In Short

• BleagLee secured $50,000 from the ClimaTech Run competition and a $400,000 grant from the World Food Programme.
• The Cameroon-based company uses drones and AI to find waste blockages that can trigger urban flooding.
• The model blends waste collection, climate adaptation services, and green jobs.

What Happened

BleagLee is positioning waste management as a flood-risk service in Cameroon, starting with high-risk urban areas like Douala.

The African Development Bank highlighted how blocked drains and canals, often clogged with plastic and household waste, can turn heavy rain into damaging floods. BleagLee’s approach starts before storms.

The company uses drones for aerial waste mapping, then applies AI analytics, meaning software that spots patterns in data like a fast assistant, to identify where waste is likely blocking drainage channels. Teams can then prioritise clean-ups in the most urgent spots.

BleagLee also works with youth eco-groups and local waste pickers, and uses mobile payments to coordinate and pay for collection work. The collected materials are directed into recycling markets, supporting a circular economy, meaning reusing materials instead of dumping them.

Separately, the AfDB reported that BleagLee secured $50,000 from the ClimaTech Run competition and a $400,000 World Food Programme grant. The new funding totals $450,000.

Why It Matters

Urban flooding is a growing climate risk in many African cities. When drains are blocked, water has fewer routes to flow and informal settlements tend to be hit first.

BleagLee’s pitch is that better waste data can reduce flood damage, not just improve sanitation. This frames waste collection as climate adaptation, which can unlock different funding sources and buyers, including city governments and development partners.

It also points to a broader climate tech opportunity in Francophone Africa. Local startups that combine field operations with simple data tools, like drone mapping and AI-assisted prioritisation, may be able to build scalable services around resilience and public health.