Nigerian agri-tech startup ThriveAgric has raised $56.4 million in debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors, seeking to grow its 200,000-strong farmer base and expand into new African markets, including Ghana, Zambia and Kenya.
This new funding also includes a co-investment grant of $1.75 million from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment, and follows the $9million the company raised in 2020.
Founded in 2017, ThriveAgric empowers farmers in Nigeria to sell their products to FMCGs and food processors, leveraging its proprietary technology to access finance as well as improve productivity and sales to promote food security. The Agricultural Operating System (AOS) technology works entirely offline, dispatches USSD to farmers, and powers Android apps used by field agents to help digitally collate creditworthy farmers and gather relevant farm data.
Nairobi-based agri-tech startup, Apollo Agriculture has also recently raised $40 million in its Series B round of funding. Apollo is looking to double the number of farmers it is serving by the end 2022. It is also looking to introduce other products that deliver more value per acre of land. It also plans to use the new funding to refine its technology and deliver more products and services to farmers.
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