Twiga Foods—a Kenyan-based startup connecting farmers to vendors—just raised $10 million in funding led by International Finance Corporation and TLcom, an Africa focused venture capital firm.
The B2B platform leverages mobile technology to match suppliers with the larger produce market in Kenya streamlining the process of vendors ordering fresh produce from farmers across the country.
“The TLcom and IFC investment will enable us to reach more farmers, improve efficiency in service delivery and increase access to high-quality products and foodstuffs for vendors,” said CEO Grant Brooke in a press release. “We will continue in our mission to provide affordable, quality, and safe food to Kenya’s urban consumers, and reliable markets for farmers across the country.”
The e-commerce startup was founded in Nairobi in 2014 and currently has a network of 13,000 farmers and 6,000 vendors, according to the company.
Twiga has been able to reduce food prices and waste through their app-based system. Users can also use the app to coordinate the exchange of products and receive payments within 24-hours.
“Twiga is proving that smart use of technology and innovative business models can vastly improve large and inefficient African markets such as the agricultural supply chain,” said Maurizio Caio from TLcom. “With capital and business building support coming from this set of investors Twiga is positioning for massive value generation, demonstrating the increasing maturity of the Africa venture capital space.”
The supply chain startup raised $10.3 million in their Series A funding round last year led by Wamda Capital and includes Omidyar Network, DOB Equity, Uqalo, 1776, Blue Haven Initiative, AlphaMundi, and AHL Venture Partners.
