Tanzanian agritech firm East Africa Foods has raised about $40 million to expand processing, storage, transport and digital distribution, including a push into Kenya, the company and its lead investor said.
The package includes a $26 million Series B equity round led by the Private Infrastructure Development Group through InfraCo, with Oikocredit and Dutch development bank FMO joining. Existing shareholders ARAF, Goodwell, Africa Eats and FINCA reinvested. Debt from the Schmidt Family Foundation and further shareholder money complete the roughly $40 million raise. EKTA Partners advised on the deal.
Built for the gap after harvest
East Africa Foods sources produce from more than 28,000 registered smallholder farmers and supplies over 10,000 urban retailers. It aggregates, grades, stores, processes and distributes under brands including Onja and Golden Banana.
In Kenya and Tanzania, up to 40 per cent of food produced is lost before it reaches consumers, much of it after harvest for want of aggregation, cold storage and reliable transport. The company says its integrated chain has already cut losses by a third across its network.
“A third of what our farmers grow never reaches anyone’s table. That is not a farming problem: it is an infrastructure problem, and it is solvable,” founder and chief executive Elia Timotheo said. “For the past three years we have been building the layer this market is missing: the sourcing network, the fleet, the storage, and the technology that sit between a smallholder farm and an urban shelf.”
Kenya next, 100,000 farmers in sight
Proceeds will fund more capacity, a stronger digital platform linking farmers, branches and retailers, climate-smart training and entry into Kenya. The firm aims to reach 100,000 smallholder farmers over the next few years, about 45 per cent of them women, with more predictable incomes for producers and better availability for city shops.
“Strengthening EAF’s presence in Tanzania, and expanding its efficient, data-driven business into Kenya, will enable the company to mobilise future finance into this vital sector,” said Claire Jarratt, PIDG head of investment management for InfraCo.
Samuel Kibiri of Oikocredit said the platform helps reduce food loss, strengthen urban food security and improve smallholder incomes. Equity completion followed competition and regulatory clearances in COMESA, Tanzania’s Fair Competition Commission and Zanzibar’s competition authority. For Kenyan retailers and wholesale markets, a scaled cold-chain operator from across the border adds another bidder for produce and another route for reducing seasonal price spikes.
FMO’s Peter Byrde said a commercially viable agri-logistics model could draw more private capital into the sector in the years ahead.
Sources: PIDG | Tech In Africa | Food Business MEA
Photo: Cmwaura / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
