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.

How beautiful is it to have your cravings or needs served to you at your convenience? Startups have made this possible with several innovative ideas. What business would not make it when they hit the exact need of the general public?

Are these the reasons for the boost? Well, let’s find out. The FoodTech Sector in Nigeria is quite interesting today, having been recognized as the major sector stimulating Nigeria’s economic growth, locally and globally, by the recently released StartupBlink report.

The report revealed that Lagos, the Nigerian city with the most promising startup ecosystem and the reason for the country’s heave, was ranked 24th globally in the FoodTech industry.

“Lagos’ achievement in Foodtech should be celebrated, because Lagos is the only African city to reach the global top 30 for any of the 11 industries.”

Interesting Facts in Nigeria’s Food Industry According to Statistica

• Revenue in the Food market amounts to US$213.50bn in 2022. The market is expected to grow annually by 5.60% (CAGR 2022-2027).
• The market’s largest segment is the segment Confectionery & Snacks with a market volume of US$48.59bn in 2022.
• In relation to total population figures, per person revenues of US$984.80 are generated in 2022.
• In the Food market, volume is expected to amount to 36,550.9mkg by 2027. 
• The average volume per person in the Food market is expected to amount to 181.1kg in 2022.

Older research found that Nigeria’s processed food industry was valued at $20 billion annually in 2012, expected to grow by several tens of billions of dollars by 2050.

Food and Technology 

Several startups have leveraged innovations to create sustainable and inclusive mediums to ensure food processes are seamless. Not limited to these, here are some solutions that have contributed to the sector’s growth and recognition:

• Creating food distribution networks and infrastructure
• Packaging, speed and efficiency 
• Mobile apps for trade and inventory tracking
• Connecting farmers to vendors and even end-users at affordable rates
• Providing finance to farmers and retailers
• Reducing energy consumption 

We cannot leave out the food delivery apps and other logistics without which FoodTech would be limited. There is a chain of people and groups working tirelessly to promote the sector; all cannot be mentioned because the list is long, but some can.

The activities of these startups have attracted Venture Capitalists, organizations and individuals who invest and trust that the sector would thrive beyond its current state. 

1. Orda
2. Jise
3. Jumia Foods
4. Star Kitchens Group
5. OurEdenlife
6. Yaaga
7. MobileCooks
8. FoodBooking
9. GofoodNG
10. Delicioso Mobile Chefs
11. Buyfood Africa
12. Hellofood
13. Chopnownow
14. Agricorp International
15. Releaf
16. Vendease
17. OliliFood
18. ThriveAgric
19. Hello Tractor
20. Groupfarma 

Highlighting a few randomly 

Orda raised $1.1 million in January this year to expand operations. The round included VCs and Angels such as Microtraction, DFS Labs, Oxford Seed Fund, Enza Capital, Agrolay Advisors, Techstars Boulder, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, Norrsken Foundation, and angel investors like Ire Aderinokun, Jesse Ovia and Ademola Adesina.

Last year, Jise attracted Angel investors such as Backroom Capital; Nigeria, Winston Capital; Ireland, Jonny Enagwolor, Co-Founder Treepz Inc and others. The company raised $100,000 to provide faster and more affordable food delivery service.

Agricorp International 

Utilizing its proprietary technology, Farmbase, to create detailed profiles and financial flow for farmers by registering, aggregating, and paying them for their produce, Agricorp raised $17.5 million in pre-series A funding from Vami Farms, One Capital, AFEX and others.

Releaf

Releaf raised $4.2 million in seed funding and grants to scale food processing solutions last year. This was led by Samurai Incubate Africa, Future Africa and Consonance Investment Managers with participation from Stephen Pagliuca, Chairman of Bain Capital, Justin Kan of Twitch, Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) and USAID.

Vendease

Backed by Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Hustle Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, Hack VC, and Soma Capital, Vendease connects restaurants and food businesses directly to farmers and manufacturers. The startup recently raised $3.2 million.

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.