Twiga Foods, a Kenyan agri-tech firm, has announced a US$50 Million (KSh 5.5 Billion) Series C round to scale its efforts in Kenya and other neighbouring countries. It targets to move into other markets such as DRC, Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire as it plans even bigger funding in 2022.
The firm has been using technology to build supply chains in food and retail distribution on the continent, starting with Kenya.
This US$5O Million funding comes after the company’s $30 million Series B round — $23.75 million equity and $6.25 million debt — in 2019. Per Crunchbase and Twiga has raised over $100 million in both debt and equity financing rounds.
While Twiga has been connecting vendors and outlets with farmers via an app to access different agricultural produce, this strategy has since changed. Three years ago, the firm began to connect Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and manufacturers with retailers in Kenya in a bid to increase revenue.
According to Techcrunch, the B2B e-commerce food distribution platform says that over 100,000 customers use its services across Kenya while delivering more than 600 metric tons of product to 10,000+ retailers daily.
Twiga also plans to use part of the funding to roll out low-cost manufactured food and non-food products under its brand before the end of the year.
Most of the investors from Twiga’s Series B round in 2019 took part in this recent fundraise. Paris- and Nairobi-based family office and private equity firm Creadev led the Series C round. TLcom Capital, IFC Ventures, DOB Equity, and Juven also participated in the round by writing follow on checks too. First-time investors include OP Finnfund Global and Endeavor Catalyst Fund.
Additionally, earlier investors in Twiga also got some liquidity via a $30 million secondary sale.
ALSO READ: Twiga Foods to Receive KSh 3.2 Billion Loan from IFC & Top Kenyan Banks
