Creadev, a French investment company, has announced that it has acquired a $5 million stake in Kenya-based agrictech startup, Twiga Foods.
As part of the deal, early investors including Adolf H. Lundin Charitable Foundation, Blue Haven Ventures, Crescat Limited, Omidyar Networks, Index Ventures through Project Hand Purpose Trust, and Uqalo, have all sold part of their stakes as part of a strategy to accommodate later stage and longer-term investors.
The CEO of Twiga Foods, Peter Njonjo said: “Having Creadev join our shareholding is a huge boost to our mission to deliver safe, affordable high-quality food to urban consumers while providing reliable markets for farmers. It will support our efforts towards growing our ecosystem of farmers and retailers”.
Twiga which was founded in 2014, currently works with 17,000 farmers, and 2,500 retailers daily and is looking to further expand its operations within and outside Kenya.
We want to thank our early investors in Twiga who have profitably exited their investment and welcome Creadev in to the Twiga family.https://t.co/ccnbkCovyi https://t.co/ccnbkCovyi
— Peter Njonjo (@njonjo2012) June 12, 2019
In a statement announcing the investment, Sarah Ngamau and Pierre Fauvet, who both run Creadev’s activities in Africa, said: “We are proud to enter into this long-term partnership with Twiga as they answer a massive market need: the structuration and formalization of the food logistics supply chain. We are impressed by Twiga’s fast growth, driven by an experienced and result-oriented management team.
“We believe the appointment of Mr. Njonjo as CEO is another proof of Twiga’s ambitions and willingness to grow to the next level. We will leverage on Creadev’s international retail network and future funding capacity to support the team in executing this ambitious expansion plan and continue delivering their strong value proposition to small-holder farmers, informal retailers, and end customers.
“We take the opportunity to thank Adolf H. Lundin Charitable Foundation, Blue Haven Ventures, Crescat Limited, Omydiar Networks, Index Ventures through Project Hand Purpose Trust, and Uqalo for their successful early-stage support to Twiga.”
Creadev is a French investment firm, controlled by the Mulliez family. Based in Paris, Nairobi, Shanghai, and New York, they invest in companies which help to ensure widespread access to essential goods and services, such as food and healthcare, education and employability, and the environment.
In November 2018, Twiga Foods secured a $10 million investment led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme. And just a few days ago, IFC, partnered with Twiga foods to implement global food safety standards in Kenya. It has been a flurry of activities for the agrictech startup.
