Kenyan B2B agri-tech company Twiga Foods has secured a US$50 million Series C funding round to scale its mission of delivering affordable food across Africa, strengthening its position as one of the continent’s best-funded startups.
Founded in 2014, Twiga is revolutionizing Africa’s food supply chain. The company operates a tech-driven B2B e-commerce platform that connects fresh produce growers, FMCG manufacturers, and informal retailers—eliminating multiple intermediaries to significantly reduce the cost of food for consumers.
This latest funding round was led by Creadev, the French family office and investment company. Other notable participants include follow-on investments from Juven, TLcom Capital, IFC Ventures, and DOB Equity, as well as new entrants OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I and Endeavor Catalyst Fund.
As part of the transaction, early investors were also offered a US$30 million secondary sale, providing liquidity and returns of up to 100% annualized gains.
Twiga’s funding journey has been impressive, raising:
- US$10.3 million in Series A (2017)
- US$10 million (2018)
- US$34.75 million across two rounds in 2019
- US$29.4 million in debt funding from the IFC in 2020
With the new capital, Twiga plans to expand into East Africa in the coming months, and launch operations in West Africa by 2022. It is also piloting a project to produce its own fresh produce using precision agriculture and satellite imagery, aiming to improve crop yields. Commercial rollout of locally grown horticultural crops is set to begin February 2022 across East Africa.
In parallel, Twiga is preparing to launch low-cost, high-quality food and non-food products under the Twiga brand by the end of 2021. These efforts aim to reduce dependency on imports and improve affordability for everyday Kenyan consumers.
“Africa has a big problem with affordable access to food. At the heart of this is how fragmented African retail is,” said Peter Njonjo, CEO and co-founder of Twiga. “Twiga is fixing this problem, using technology to build the most extensive and lowest cost distribution network in Kenya. This is the template we will roll out to other African markets.”
Pierre Fauvet, Africa Director at Creadev, shared his enthusiasm for Twiga’s mission:
“Tapping into a US$77 billion urban market on the continent, Twiga has gained significant traction by leveraging technology to optimize food supply chains in African cities. We’re deeply convinced by their potential to transform informal retail across Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Twiga’s blend of innovation, scale, and social impact has positioned it as a blueprint for inclusive retail and agri-tech transformation across the continent.
