Grace Ashiru
Vendease, a digital platform backed by Y Combinator that helps African restaurants buy supplies, get financial services, and run their businesses, has raised $30 million in equity and debt funding to support its growth and operations in Nigeria and Ghana and its expansion across the continent.
The series In a unique collaboration between two of the most significant Africa-focused funds, TLcom and Partech co-led a $20 million equity round.
After participating in the previous phase, VentureSouq, Hustle fund, Hack VC, GFR Fund, Kube VC, Magic Fund, and Kairos Angels all re-invested in the company during the equity round. The local finance market was used to raise the ten million dollars necessary for the debt round.
Restaurants and other food-related companies in Africa provide daily sustenance for 700 million people across the continent.
However, these companies lose a total of one hundred billion dollars every year due to expensive and unreliable supply, restricted access to data that might be used to influence purchasing decisions, wastage and theft, and limited access to cash that could be used to fund purchasing.
With the help of Vendease’s digital procurement engine, restaurants in eight cities in Nigeria and Ghana can purchase food supplies at prices far lower than those found on the open market and receive assured delivery within 12 hours.
The company is making an operating system that will automate the flow of food from the farm to the restaurant, improve business operations across the value chain by deploying accurate data, reduce food waste, and increase profits.
They can also get working capital through Vendease’s Buy-Now-Pay-Later service, which helps them make the most of their growth opportunities.
Despite continued inflation and a global shortfall in the food supply, the solutions supplied by Vendease have resulted in considerable cost reductions for its customers. They have helped maintain a relatively stable stock level for those customers.
In the past year, Vendease’s platform has facilitated the movement of more than 400,000 metric tonnes of food, which has resulted in its users saving more than $2,000,000 in expenditures associated with procurement and more than 10,000 man-hours of time spent on procurement.
Its data has also helped them save an extra $485,000 by cutting waste from overstocking. The company’s platform has gained three times as many users in the past year, and its revenue has grown by five times.
Through its embedded finance product, users have access to more than $12 million worth of inventory. With the funding,more restaurants and food businesses in Africa will be able to get these services, and new solutions and services will be made to help drive growth all along the food value chain.
Tunde Kara, CEO of Vendease and one of its co-founders, made the following statement in response to the funding: “We aim to enable the efficient flow of food across the continent, from the point of production to consumption.”
It is not only a matter of making orders for goods; rather, we intend to revolutionize the entire industry and eliminate the bottlenecks that prevent restaurants and food enterprises from expanding.
We think that making the supply chain more efficient can open up more growth opportunities for everyone. That’s why we’re excited to have raised this round, led by two of Africa’s biggest VCs who know what it takes to power such an ambitious mission.
Andreata Muforo, a Partner at TLcom, and Cyril Collon, a General Partner at Partech, will become new directors of Vendease after making investments.
According to Andreata Muforo, a partner at TLcom, “Restaurant and food enterprises play an essential role in communities across the continent.” Vendease is on a mission to make these businesses more affordable, convenient, and reliable. It builds a platform that will help the food industry run more efficiently.”
We are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the team as they move into the next phase of their expansion and uncover enormous value in Africa’s fragmented food supply chain.
According to Cyril Collon, General Partner of Partech, “Vendease is delivering crucial solutions that touch critical concerns around the food chain in Africa.”We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with them to bring these solutions to a wider variety of eateries and food-related businesses all over the continent.
According to Cyril Collon, General Partner of Partech, “Vendease is delivering crucial solutions that touch critical concerns around the food chain in Africa.”We believe there is a significant opportunity for expansion in Nigeria and beyond, and we are incredibly excited about what might be accomplished.
