Afrigather Winich Farms, a Nigerian agritech firm that provides farm grain produce to retailers, has raised $3 million in pre-series A funding to develop its order achievement centres and enhance its expertise. That is the corporate’s second funding in two years.
The spherical was led by Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF), which contributed $2.5 million, with Local weather Resilient Africa Fund, Marula Sq., Plug and Play Tech Centre, and Tekedia Capital collaborating within the spherical. Sahel Capital supplied $590,000 in debt.
Based in 2020 by brothers Riches and Winner Attai and Chichebem Jibunoh, Winich Farms helps farmers in rural areas promote their produce to off-takers—retailers and casual processors. The corporate operates assortment factors run by brokers who course of orders from off-takers.
If a retailer orders 50 kilogrammes (kg) of rice on their cellular app, the order will get handed on to brokers for bidding. These brokers rally the native farmers inside a neighborhood to deliver the produce to the gathering factors and ship them to truck drivers for supply inside 24 to 72 hours.
The corporate claims it negotiates with farmers at truthful costs and sells their produce to offtakers at barely marked-up margins. It at present fees the off-taker ₦720 ($0.43) per kg of paddy rice, excluding the supply price.
Winich Farms splits income in three: one portion goes to farmers, one other to brokers, and the corporate retains the third.
It claims it processes month-to-month orders as much as ₦3.7 billion ($2.2 million) and has grown its gross merchandise worth (GMV) by 300% since 2022 to $30 million.
“Our development has come from rising the variety of brokers on our platform. In 2022, we had about 1,000 brokers. However at the beginning of [2024], we reached over 4,000 brokers, quadrupling our development. With extra brokers, we meet demand quicker,” stated co-founder and CEO Riches Attai.
However the present mannequin is limiting as a result of the corporate’s farmer companions are based mostly within the northern areas, making deliveries to farther states like Lagos slower. The agritech claims it serves over 150,000 customers, together with farmers, brokers, and truck drivers.
“If a retailer in Lagos orders produce like rice, as a substitute of sourcing from farmers in Kebbi or Kaduna which will increase the supply time because of the distance, the order is as a substitute processed from Ondo state that’s nearer.”
Winich Farms’ workaround is to arrange achievement centres. The corporate will use the debt funding to lease buildings that may function regional distribution hubs throughout the six geo-political areas of Nigeria. With the achievement centres, the corporate will scale back supply time to off-takers.
The agritech additionally offers entry to credit score by connecting farmers who full a minimal of three provide cycles to monetary establishment companions to supply financing. The corporate points Verve playing cards to rural, underbanked farmers in partnership with Sterling Financial institution, permitting funds immediately into their accounts. It plans to situation 195,000 playing cards within the coming months.
Winich Farms will use the fairness funding to enhance its expertise and scale its card operations to compete in Africa’s rising agritech market with different gamers like ThriveAgric, AgroMall, and Zowasel.
“Investing in Winich Farms aligns with our aim at ARAF of rising native companies that help smallholder farmers in the direction of elevated productiveness, sustainable agricultural improvement, higher livelihoods, and elevated meals safety,” stated Tamer El-Raghy, managing director of ARAF.
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