NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Tage Kene-Okafor

When Vendease launched in January 2020, it wanted to solve the challenges and inefficiencies in Nigeria’s highly fragmented food sector using a marketplace model that connected suppliers and farms to restaurants and food businesses, with deliveries facilitated within 24 hours.

But over the next couple of months, Vendease switched from its middleman role — after noticing that some of these businesses complained of delivery times, quality of food supplies and inadequate set-up to handle operations — to one where, building on its relationship with food suppliers, buys discounted products in bulk, stores them and makes deliveries through third-party logistics partners.

The YC-backed food procurement platform has doubled down on the pivot — instrumental to the company’s $3.2 million seed round last October — to raise $30 million in Series A funding (split between $20 million equity and $10 million debt).