Vendease Raises $30M to Improve Restaurant Procurement Across Africa

Restaurant procurement platform Vendease raised $30 million in a mix of equity funding and debt financing to expand its marketplace across Africa and consolidate operations in Nigeria and Ghana.

The Y Combinator-backed digital platform enables eight cities in Nigeria and Ghana to buy food supplies at lower prices than what is available on the open market, with guaranteed 12-hour delivery, according to a press release Monday (Sept. 26). 

The equity round of $20 million was co-led by TLcom and Partech, with participation from VentureSouq, Hustle fund, Hack VC, GFR Fund, Kube VC, Magic Fund and Kairos Angels, who reinvested after participating in the previous round. The $10 million debt round was raised from the local finance market.

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Africa’s restaurants and food businesses “lose an estimated $100 billion each year because of expensive and unreliable supplies, limited access to data to inform procurement decisions, wastage and theft, as well as limited access to capital to fund procurement,” according to the release.

Vendease’s digital procurement engine makes it easier for restaurants to find prices that are better than the open market. Vendease is also building out its operating system to “automate the flow of food from farm to restaurant.” Restaurant owners can also access working capital through Vendease’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) program.

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“Our mission is to enable the efficient flow of food across the continent, from point of production to point of consumption. It is more than just placing orders for supplies, we want to transform how the entire sector works and remove the bottlenecks that stunt the growth of restaurants and food businesses,” said Tunde Kara, CEO and co-founder of Vendease, said, 

“With greater efficiency in the supply chain, we believe we can unlock more growth opportunities across board, which is why we are excited to have raised this round, led by two of Africa’s biggest VCs, who understand what it takes to power such an ambitious mission,” Kara said.

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