暗网吃瓜

To link over 17,000 rural Kenyan farmers to urban retailers, has raised a $23.7 million Series B led by and .

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The Nairobi, Kenya-based marketplace company has raised . Along with the equity financing, Twiga raised $6.2 million in debt financing.

So here鈥檚 why we care: We rarely dig into the VC space in Africa, let alone Kenya. Secondly, , Twiga鈥檚 Series B is history making on a couple counts.

What It Does

Founded in 2014, Twiga helps distribute Kenyan produce鈥攐nions, mangoes, avocados, and tons of other produce鈥攖o retailers. The produce goes to a collection center, then goes to a packhouse for distribution to various vendor shops. The company partners with over 8,000 vendors and claims that farmers receive payment in 24 hours.

Before a vendor can sell, a Twiga sales representative visits the farm to check it out. About 400 people work for the company, .

Kenya鈥檚 VC Space

, Twiga鈥檚 Series B is the biggest financing round raised by a Nairobi-based company in 2019, and the third largest round of all time for the city.

Beyond Goldman Sachs and TLcom, investors in Twiga include , , , , and more. A non-investing partner includes (USAID).

From here, we see that there鈥檚 a healthy show of United States investors interested in Nairobi-based companies. For example, is a global micro-seed fund based in Washington D.C., and , a Redwood City-based startup that has invested in companies like Digg, Meetup, and Anchor.

There鈥檚 also some local love, like , which describes itself as an impact-focused firm in Africa. Beyond Twiga, AHL has invested , such as , a food manufacturer in South Africa, and , a startup tackling the sustainably honey market.

And that鈥檚 not all. There were also checks from Switzerland and London, showing somewhat of a global interest.

I鈥檒l leave you with this. TLcom said that 鈥渋f Africa continues to generate companies of this caliber, more private capital will flow into the Continent and more entrepreneurs will be able to start and scale game-changing enterprises such as Twiga.鈥�

So while Twiga鈥檚 round is big for the country and the continent, investor attitude tells me that Twiga鈥檚 record might soon be (happily) beat.

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