Nigerian/Ghana Procurement Platform For Restaurants, Vendease Raises $30 Million To Expand Services Across Africa

Y Combinator-backed digital platform, Vendease has in equity and debt funding round raised $30 million, as the startup seeks to consolidate its operational presence in Nigeria, and Ghana, while it spreads its tentacles to other African countries.

The platform founded by Tunde Kara, Olumide Fayankin, Gatumi Aliyu, and Wale Oyepeju allows African restaurants buy supplies, access financial services and power their business operations, is currently present in 8 cities across Nigeria and Ghana.

Jointly leading the $20 million series A equity is two of the biggest Africa-focused funds, TLcom and Partech, with the equity round also including VentureSouq, Hustle fund, Hack VC, GFR Fund, Kube VC, Magic Fund and Kairos Angels, who re-invested after participating in the previous round. The local finance market was able to raise the $10 million debt round with Andreata Muforo, a partner at TLcom, and Cyril Collon, a general partner at Partech joining Vendease board as new directors as a result of their investments.

The startup helps the Nigeria and Ghana hospitality industry by making bulk-buy deals with food suppliers, while it warehouses the food, and delivering within a day for food supplies at considerably cheaper prices for restaurants. The company has over the last 12 months, moved more than 400,000 metric tonnes of food through its platform, in the process helping its numerous users save more than $2,000,000 in procurement costs and more than 10,000 procurement man-hours.

Vendease CEO, Tunde Kara told TechCabal that the company has over the last 12 months tripled the growth of users on its platform even as it has 5x growth in its revenue over the last 12 months. Kara added that these numbers in indicative of the fact that Vendease has helped to improve the efficiency of the flow of food. 

The new funding, according to Kara will allow Vendease help restaurants track the journey of food from how it enters the restaurant to how it eventually leaves the restaurant to the consumer, noting that the company is on the move to deepen its presence in the 8 cities it is present in across Ghana and Nigeria, even as it chases shorter delivery times, while it expands into a few more markets. 

The CEO announced that some part of the funding would go to Vendease’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, that helps automates the flow of food from farm to restaurant, optimises business operations across the value chain through accurate data deployment, reduces wastage, and drives profitability for restaurants. Kara averred that though the software has helped the company’s numerous customers, there is still “a lot on the table” for Vendease to achieve. 

With the use of the ER software, any restaurant that wants to startup in the next two years will have access to a plug-and-play platform that allows financing, inventory management, recipe management, and other necessities to be taken care of. Kara believes this would allow anyone the opportunity to start a restaurant, an opportunity he says was not previously available. 

The company also announced that users have accessed more than $12 million worth of inventory through its embedded finance product, with Kara noting that this feature has seen enormous success because Vendease has taken the time to understand its user base. The CEO further noted the company employs the use of data to help its user base solve its tawdry invoicing and inventory management systems, as it allows them to pay back in record time. 

Andreata Muforo, partner at TLcom, in a statement, while speaking on the raise, said:

 “Restaurants and food businesses play a vital role in communities across the continent and Vendease is on a mission to bring affordability, convenience, and reliability to these businesses and builds a platform that allows the wider food sector to optimise their operations. We look forward to working alongside the team as they pursue the next phase of growth and unlock significant value in Africa’s fragmented food supply chain.”