Since Twiga Foods’ launch in 2014, the startup has been using technology to build more efficient supply chains in food and retail distribution in Kenya. With the announcement of their latest funding, the company aims to take their mission across the African continent.
Twiga Foods raised $50 million on Nov. 1 in a Series C round, TechCrunch reports. The round was led by private equity firm Creadev and majority of the participants from their previous Series B round invested in Twiga. New investors included OP Finnfund Global and Endeavor Catalyst Fund.
“We are deeply convinced in Twiga’s potential to revolutionize informal retail across Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Pierre Fauvet, Africa director at Creadev, in a statement. “Tapping into a $77 billion urban market on the continent, Twiga has gained significant traction since inception, leveraging on technology to optimize the food supply chain in African cities and constantly innovating to better tackle logistics, commercial, social and environmental challenges.”
According to TechCrunch, Twiga plans to use the funding to test out a model they’re developing “to reduce the price consumers pay for popular domestic plant-based food products by over 30%.” Partial funding will also go toward their roll out of low-cost manufactured food and non-food products and overall expansion aside from Kenya.
“We’ve been fairly successful in Kenya. So, we want to consolidate our dominant position, clear out our proof of concept and expand to the neighbouring countries,” CEO Peter Njonjo told TechCrunch.
For most of its existence, vendors and outlets were connected with farmers via an app to access different agricultural produce. In 2019, Twiga transitioned to connect FMCGs and manufacturers with retailers in Kenya.
As the company continues to build as a one-stop-shop for the informal retailer, they are looking to expand to markets in Cote d’Ivoire, DRC Congo, Ghana and Nigeria in the near future.
