The round was led by Lofty Inc Capital, and had participation from Techstars – Boulder, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, Norrsken Foundation, Microtraction, DFS Labs, Oxford Seed Fund, Enza Capital, Agrolay Advisors, Ire Aderinokun, Jesse Ovia, Ademola Adesina, and other angel investors.

Founded by Guy Futi (CEO), Adinlewa “Fikayo” Akinwale (CTO), Mark Edomwande, Kunle Ogungbamila, and Namir El-Khouri, Orda.Africa is a cloud-based restaurant operating system built for African chefs and food business owners.

Orda’s ePos, integrations, and lending solutions enable Africa’s millions of food business owners to grow and scale their businesses. With Orda, restaurants can manage end-to-end operations from one place.

Orda has developed a full-stack approach to integrating local payments, logistic companies while building inventory management, and business analytics for small to medium-sized food businesses. It says it is the only technology solution on the continent that allows restaurants to accept and process all their in-store, website, social media, Whatsapp, Jumia Food, Glovo, Bolt Food orders from one easy-to-use interface.

Speaking on the inspiration behind the technology, Guy Futi, CEO of Orda said “We kept trying to address the very real pain points of chefs, caterers and small restaurants and from that Orda grew. Before Orda, a small food business owner could spend up to 4 hours a day  reconciling transactions while trying to figure out losses. We looked to alleviate that burden. In the process we noticed that food business owners were not fully integrated with local payment solutions, online sales channels, and logistic providers. This made their operations even more difficult.”

Although a relatively new technology subsector, cloud-based points of sales have been rising in popularity in recent years.

A 2021 report put the global market size at $72.8 billion is expected to reach USD 116.27 billion by 2026. In the US, market leaders, Toast —which Orda is modeled after, announced revenues of $486.4 million in Q3 2021.

In Africa, Orda is believed to be among the first bottom-up software providers for restaurants. Built by an African team, the startup’s cloud-based solution factors peculiarities unique to the market. For instance, their ePos has the ability to operate in remote areas with little to no internet coverage.

“Orda was built from a near 18 months of a collaborative customer feedback loop. We listened to everything, from how African restaurants reconcile inventory, how customers pay, to how they handle logistics and more. We can confidently say that no one has done as much work as we have to build an end-to-end solution for our food business owners. We are excited to usher in much needed digitization to the sector”, says Fikayo Akinwale, the CTO.

The startup’s cloud-based solution is currently available for restaurants in Nigeria and Kenya. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) has been growing at more than 15% week over week as Orda now processes thousands of weekly transactions.

Speaking on the raise, Idris Ayodeji Bello, managing partner of LoftyInc Capital said, “We loved investing in Orda because it is building the core digital infrastructure for restaurants across Africa. The team has done the hard work of figuring out the core problems that African restaurant owners are facing and is building a solution that can revolutionise the food business across the continent. LoftyInc is excited to back a solution-focused team like Orda.”

Following the raise, the startup is looking to increase its rate of growth and expansion across the continent.

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These investments reiterate Visa’s focus on facilitating digital innovation in Africa, driving fintech growth, and enhancing financial inclusion across the continent. 

The four startups, operating across multiple African countries are: 

• Oze, a Ghana-based startup providing digital record-keeping tools and embedded finance products to SMEs. The company helps businesses manage transactions, access affordable capital, and attain growth. Additionally, the startup offers a Loan Management System (LMS) for financial institutions, featuring machine learning-based credit scoring to enhance lending decisions and expand access to credit for MSMEs.
• Workpay, a HR tech firm headquartered in Kenya. The company offers a comprehensive cloud-based payroll and HR platform that manages the entire employee lifecycle, enabling payroll processing, time tracking, employee benefits administration, performance management and Employer of Record services in more than 35 countries across Africa.
• OkHi based in Nigeria, is a smart addressing system that provides digital address verification, enabling businesses to collect, verify, and navigate to accurate addresses, thereby improving delivery efficiency and access to financial services.
• ORDA, a cloud-based restaurant software company digitizing over 1,500 restaurants across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa with tools for order processing, inventory management, and financial services to optimize operations and fuel growth.

Graduates of the second cohort of the program will have the opportunity to present their innovative capabilities during a Demo Day set to take place on December 2nd in Cape Town, South Africa, to an audience of venture capitalists, angel investors, ecosystem enablers and business partners.

The Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program – is a three-month intensive program that supports Seed to Series A start-ups by offering 1:1 mentorship, training, and exclusive opportunities for funding and partnership. 

Launched in 2023, it aligns with Visa’s pledge to invest $1 billion in the continent by 2027, helping to uplift and bolster its digital transformation.

Godfrey Sullivan, senior vice president of Products, Partnerships and Digital Solutions for Visa CEMEA, said “These investments mark a substantial step for Visa – we are once again standing behind our commitment to innovation in Africa, helping to shape the future of digital payments alongside some of the brightest fintech minds that the continent has to offer. Visa sees each investment as a unique opportunity to drive financial access and inclusion, and we are proud to support these start-ups as they realize their vision for a more connected Africa.”

Meghan McCormick, chief executive officer at Oze commented: “This investment marks the latest pivotal moment in our journey, enabling us to scale our innovations to continue supporting MSMEs across Africa – something that both we and our shareholders are truly passionate about.”

Timbo Drayson, co-founder and CEO of Okhi commented:  “We are thrilled to welcome Visa onboard as we continue to disrupt the industry and redefine what’s possible through our identity verification solutions. The future is bright, and partnerships like this help us take a step forward toward achieving our vision.”

Guy Futi, co-founder of ORDA commented: “We are proud to have an established payments leader such as Visa be part of our growth journey. We see this investment as a mark of trust in our vision. We look forward to driving innovation together, one order at a time.”

Paul Kimani, co-founder and CEO of WorkPay commented: “We are happy to have Visa in our corner. As a trusted leader in digital payments, Visa’s support pushes us toward our goal of delivering innovative solutions and streamlining backend processes for all.”

Additional investments and commercial partnerships with the program’s graduates are being finalized and will be announced soon.

The Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program is supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS), which offers free cloud services to cohort participants. 

Companies interested in Africa are invited to join and contribute to developing the next generation of fintech innovators, experiencing the transformative power of these partnerships.

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