Kenyan startup Twiga Foods closes $30m Series-B round

Nairobi-based mobile-based B2B distribution platform Twiga Foods announced today that it has secured almost $30-million in a new round led by Goldman Sachs.

It follows the $5-million investment from French investor Creadev that the Kenyan startup announced in June (see this story).

Twiga Foods’ platform aggregates the requirements of the informal retailers through its m-commerce platform and leverages this to efficiently source produce directly from farmers and food manufacturers.

The startup was founded in 2014 by Peter Njonjo (pictured above), who serves as CEO, and American Grant Brooke (who served as the startup’s CEO until earlier this year).

Twiga Foods will use the $30m round to set up a distribution centre in Nairobi and expand to more cities in Kenya

TechCrunch reported in an article earlier today that $6.25-million of the funding was in the form of convertible debt and $23.75-million in equity, with the round being classified as a Series-B round. The World Bank’s IFC, TLcom Capital and Creadev joined Goldman on the VC side, it said.

It said Twiga will use the funds to set up a distribution centre in Nairobi and expand to more cities in Kenya. It said the startup is targeting Pan-African expansion by the third quarter of 2020.

Njonjo said in a statement that the latest funding will enable the company to invest intechnology and organisation to tackle the inefficiencies in Africa’s domestic food production and distribution.

We are really excited with the milestone of having #GoldmanSachs join the #TwigaTeam in transforming Food Retail in Africa.https://t.co/XBo8LMMHj8 https://t.co/XBo8LMMHj8

— Peter Njonjo (@njonjo2012) October 28, 2019

Business intelligence platform Crunchbase estimates that the deal brings the total amount of disclosed venture capital that Twiga Foods has raised since it was founded to over $43-million.

Read more: Kenya’s Twiga Foods secures $5m from French investor Creadev
Read more: Kenyan supply platform Twiga Foods set to secure up to $7m from IFC, TLCom
Read more: Kenya’s Twiga Foods secures $10m investment from IFC, TLcom

Featured image: Twiga Foods co-founder and CEO Peter Njonjo (Facebook)