While Euromonitor International revealed that retail sales in Africa was $500 billion+ in 2018, African Development Bank projected that the industry would reach $1.3 trillion by 2020, and McKinsey & Company projected growth of $860 billion in 2015 to $1.4 trillion by 2025. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8%. With the continent’s growing population and rising middle class, this sector is expected to continue expanding.

The retail industry in Africa is diverse and comprises both formal and informal retail. Informal retail makes up a significant proportion of the sector and includes markets, street vendors, and kiosks. Formal retail, on the other hand, includes shopping malls, supermarkets, and department stores.

The growth of the retail industry in Africa is driven by several factors, including population growth, urbanization, rising disposable incomes, and increasing consumer spending. The continent has a young and growing population, with a median age of just 19.7 years, which creates a large and growing consumer base. The pace of urbanization is also accelerating, with more Africans moving to cities and creating new markets for retailers.

Another key driver of growth in the African retail industry is the increasing availability and affordability of technology. Mobile phone penetration rates are high in many African countries, which has enabled the growth of e-commerce platforms and mobile money solutions. These technologies are making it easier and more convenient for consumers to shop online and pay for goods and services.

Successful retail African startups:

1. Jumia

Jumia is a leading e-commerce platform in Africa. It was founded in 2012 and is now present in 11 African countries. Jumia’s success can be attributed to its ability to adapt to the unique challenges of the African market. The platform offers a range of products, including electronics, fashion, and beauty, and has developed its payment and logistics infrastructure to overcome the challenges of delivering products in Africa.

2. Kobo360

Kobo360 is a logistics platform that connects truck owners and drivers with businesses that need to move goods. The platform uses technology to optimize the logistics process and improve efficiency. Kobo360 has been successful because it solves a significant problem in the African market, where logistics is often unreliable and inefficient.

3. Sokowatch

Sokowatch is a B2B e-commerce platform that enables small retailers in Africa to order products directly from manufacturers and distributors. The platform uses mobile technology to enable retailers to place orders and receive deliveries quickly and efficiently. Sokowatch has disrupted the traditional retail model by cutting out middlemen and reducing costs for retailers.

4. Farmcrowdy

Farmcrowdy is an agricultural platform that connects small-scale farmers in Nigeria with investors who provide funding for farming projects. The platform enables farmers to access capital, expertise, and resources, and investors to earn returns on their investments. Farmcrowdy has disrupted the traditional agricultural model by using technology to connect farmers with investors and increase efficiency.

5. Twiga Foods

Twiga Foods is a B2B platform that connects smallholder farmers in Kenya with urban retailers. The platform uses mobile technology to enable farmers to sell their produce directly to retailers, cutting out middlemen and reducing costs. Twiga Foods has disrupted the traditional supply chain by making it more efficient and profitable for farmers and retailers.

6. Alerzo

Alerzo is a retail Nigerian startup that aims to make shopping for everyday items more convenient and affordable for consumers in Africa. The company operates an online marketplace that offers a wide range of products, including groceries, health and beauty items, electronics, and more.

Alerzo leverages technology to streamline the shopping experience and reduce costs, which enables them to offer lower prices than traditional brick-and-mortar stores. The company also partners with local businesses to expand its product offerings and support the growth of small businesses in the region.

Despite the growth potential, the African retail industry still faces some challenges, such as poor infrastructure, logistical challenges, and a lack of formal retail space. However, innovative startups are emerging and using technology, e-commerce platforms, and logistics solutions to make retail more efficient and accessible in Africa. 

When Adioo Technology introduced Jebota in 2022, it entered a sector facing structural inefficiencies.

Agriculture contributes close to a trillion dollars to Africa’s GDP and supports more than 60 percent of the population, yet nearly half of harvested crops never reach consumers. Weak logistics, fragmented supply chains, and unreliable market access keep smallholder farmers locked into cycles of waste and low income.

Nigeria highlights the urgency. As West Africa’s largest economy, it produces a quarter of the region’s agricultural output, but post-harvest losses in some regions exceed 40 percent, draining billions from the economy each year.

Startups such as Farmcrowdy and ThriveAgric have drawn investor attention, but the wider sector continues to struggle with scale, infrastructure gaps, and digital exclusion. The lack of digital access makes the problem worse.

Only a small share of farmers use data tools to guide planting or sales. Rural internet coverage is increasing but remains inconsistent, leaving many communities outside e- commerce and financial systems. Millions of producers remain excluded from modern trade.

Jebota was created to address these gaps. Adioo Technology built it as a digital entity that adapts with each transaction, combining market access, predictive analytics, logistics, and secure payments into one platform.

Farmers can sell produce directly to buyers, bypassing intermediaries and keeping a greater share of their earnings.

The platform’s AI-driven seasonality engine improves forecasts for planting and harvesting, aligning production with real demand and reducing waste. Dashboards give farmers visibility into market conditions, helping them sell faster and negotiate on equal terms. Integrated logistics reduce spoilage by coordinating transport and storage, while escrow-backed mobile payments ensure security for both parties and give unbanked farmers access to formal finance.

The impact was clear in the first year. Farmers reported average income gains of 30 percent. More than 60,000 tons of food were saved from waste across pilot regions.

Rural internet penetration in participating communities increased by 12 percent within 18 months, and agricultural e-commerce adoption grew 40 percent faster than in comparable areas.

By 2023, agritech investment in Africa had risen by 77 percent, with Jebota cited as evidence that the sector was ready to scale.

Experts view this as a long-overdue shift.

“Post-harvest losses in Nigeria remain among the highest in the world,” said Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank. “Digital platforms that connect farmers directly to markets while improving logistics and finance are exactly what the sector needs.”

Broader regional trends support this momentum. Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing one of the fastest increases in mobile internet adoption globally.

By 2028, nearly half of the population is expected to be online, compared with less than a third in 2018. Digital finance is also expanding rapidly.

Kenya’s M-Pesa set the precedent, while Nigeria’s Paga and OPay now process millions of daily transactions. Jebota builds on these developments by embedding secure payments and turning farm activity into trade data that can be used across the system.

The platform’s influence is extending beyond farmers. Governments in pilot regions are drawing on Jebota’s aggregated data for food security planning.

Investors highlight it as one of the most advanced AI-powered trade solutions in emerging markets. “We’ve seen strong interest in agritech in recent years, but what sets Jebota apart is its integration of data and payments,” said Lagos-based investor Adaeze Okonkwo. “That combination makes it scalable across borders.”

This marks a turning point in how African agriculture is understood. For decades, it has been defined by risks such as dependence on rainfall, climate shocks, and inadequate infrastructure. Jebota demonstrates that agriculture can be data-driven, investable, and resilient. Its structure is central to this shift.

By combining AI, analytics, logistics, and finance into a single framework, Jebota strengthens with every transaction. Smallholder farmers become participants in a digital economy, and the value of the network grows as more users join.

Adioo Technology now aims to expand Jebota beyond Africa. Similar inefficiencies exist in Asia and Latin America, where food waste and opaque supply chains limit growth. A scalable, data-driven platform could reset how agriculture functions in those regions as well.

The implications are far-reaching. Reducing food waste strengthens national food security. Secure payments expand financial inclusion.

Transparent data improves government planning and investor confidence. Benefits flow from farmers to consumers and across economies.

For Nigeria, the stakes are immediate. Stronger logistics, transparent markets, and access to digital finance could lift millions of farmers into the digital economy. For Africa and other emerging markets, Jebota signals a new standard where agriculture is shaped by intelligence rather than inefficiency.

What began as a local response to a structural challenge has become a model with global relevance. In under two years, Jebota has moved from pilot to proof of concept to a platform symbolising Africa’s ability to export not only agricultural produce but digital infrastructure that meets international standards.

Most farmers encounter challenges in scaling and growing to achieve their targets due to limitations in several aspects such as financing, accessibility, among others, and beautifully, Agritech startups are on a fast rise to tackle these challenges.

Some of these companies include Releaf, Farmcrowdy, Vendease, Zowasel, Voriancorelli, Skudu, Khula, Agrocenta, Apollo Agriculture and Complete Farmer.

1. Releaf

Releaf’s hardware and software solutions enable farmers and food factories become more efficient. Last year, the Nigeria-based agritech startup raised $2,700,000 in a seed round led by Samurai Incubate Africa, Future Africa and Consonance Investment Managers.

One of its hardware products is Kraken, used to crack nuts and crush kernels into vegetable oil which are sold to FMCG processors and local manufacturers. The company also supplied high-quality raw materials and crops with sustainability at the core of its focus.

2. Farmcrowdy

Another Nigerian agritech startup, Farmcrowdy was founded in November 2016 and has grown to become the country’s leading Agritech company that connects smallholder farmers to DFIs provided by government agencies, access to market, and processed food.

In November 2020 when it clocked four, Farmcrowdy re-invented itself by launching;

1. Farmcrowdy Structured Finance,
2. Farmcrowdy Insurance,
3. Farmcrowdy Marketing,
4. Farmcrowdy Tech and Data,
5. Farmcrowdy Foods and
6. Farmcrowdy Aggregation.

These businesses were set up to serve all individuals across the entire agriculture value chain prioritizing stakeholder access to better yields, lower costs, and smarter marketing.

Farmcrowdy is backed by Techstars, GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator, FC Agro Allied SPV, Cox Enterprises, Social Capital, and several other investors.

3. Vendease

Also based in Nigeria, Vendease raised $3,200,000 in seed funding to expand operations and scale across the continent last year. The company digitises Africa’s food supply chain, with restaurants as its primary target audience and has a transaction volume of over $13,000,000.

Backed by YCombinator, Global Founders Capital, Hack VC, Soma Capital, and others, Vendease is patronised by businesses such as Dodo Pizza, Genesis restaurant, Eden, Fishermans Daughter, to mention a few. The company allows users to manage inventories, track expenses, and access its buy-now-pay-later system, making business more seamless. 

4. Zowasel

Online sustainable marketplace for crops, Zowasel has created a peer-to-peer marketplace for farmers and buyers of agricultural produce to carry out transactions.

Based in Nigeria, the company’s platform provides quality crop testing and all-day working capital for growers and effortless crop sourcing for buyers, thereby connecting with the network of top vetted buyers to earn more for the crops.

With a total funding amount of $100,000, Zowasel is backed by Guinness Nigeria, Promasidor, MassChallenge Switzerland, SAIS, among others.

5. Voriancorelli

Voriancorelli bridges the gap between agribusinesses and the capital required for them to scale. The company offers agricultural commodities aggregation solutions to key players in the sector, such as buyers, sellers, commodity aggregators, logistics partners, financiers and food processors, by connecting them together digitally, thereby facilitating seamless transactions and ensuring the economic wellbeing of all stakeholders.

Voriancorelli is the first company that was screened for listing on the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE).

6. Skudu

South Africa’s Skudu leverages technology to enhance efficiency within the agricultural value chain, ultimately benefiting all stakeholders involved via its method of merging deep farming know-how with cloud computing.

Last year, the agritech startup raised an undisclosed funding amount from one of Africa’s leading agri-food investors, AgVentures, to scale its online marketplace for agricultural inputs and produce, as well as its approaches in interpreting soil sample results, keeping track of farms and providing management tools, all targeted at enabling farmers to significantly lower input costs and protect the environment by optimising fertilizer application globally.

7. Khula

Another South African-based agritech startup, Khula connects subsistence and commercial farmers to agricultural supply and marketplaces. Last year, the company raised $1,300,000 from AECI, an SA agrochemical company and E Squared Investments.

Khula has a range of products such as the KHULA! Inputs app, Fresh Produce Marketplace and Funder Dashboard, which enables a hiccup-free process between local and international farmers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers and other stakeholders.

8. Agrocenta

Ghana’s Agrocenta is solving the limited accessibility to markets for smallholder farmers in the rural areas, which brings about exploitation, purchase from middlemen and lack of a coordinated truck delivery system to cart commodities directly from farms to markets to sell.

Its $2,200,000 total funding amount was raised from investors such as Foreign & Commonwealth Office – UK, AV Ventures, Rabo Foundation, Shell Foundation, GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator and Seedstars.

9. Apollo Agriculture 

Based in Kenya, Apollo Agriculture helps small-scale farmers maximise profit. Via due diligence, the company builds credit profiles for these farmers leveraging a machine learning model so as to build automated digital processes that make their lives better.

Servicing over 40,000 farmers in Kenya, Apollo Agriculture has a total funding amount of $12,200,000 raised from Agri-Business Capital Fund (ABC Fund), Anthemis Group, Leaps by Bayer, Flourish Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity, Rabobank, FMO and Musha Ventures.

10. Complete Farmer 

Ghana’s Complete Farmer is focused on food security, promoting nutritious eating, monitoring farming processes, and providing education and training to grow food precisely in order to meet industry specifications and quality. 

The end-to-end digital farming platform, which enables clients to gain competitive advantage across various agriculture value chains, raised an undisclosed funding amount from Ingressive Capital.