Chowdeck Secures $2.5M Seed Funding to Optimize On-demand Food Delivery in Nigeria

Chowdeck, Nigeria’s on-demand delivery service, has secured $2.5 million in seed funding to optimize its operations and support expansion into more cities across the country.

The seed funding round included investment from YCombinator, Goodwater Capital, FounderX Ventures, Hoaq Fund, Levare Ventures, True Culture Funds and Haleakala Ventures. Simon Borrero and Juan Pablo Ortega (co-founders of Rappi – Latin America’s largest online delivery platform), Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi (co-founders of Paystack – one of Africa’s leading fintech companies. Acquired by Stripe for $200m), Sudeep Ramani (Sportybet), Ayo Arikawe (Thrive Agric) and Karthik Ramakrishnan (Amazon) also participated as angels.

Since launching in October 2021 after the COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Chowdeck has acquired more than 500,000 users and more than 3,000 riders (typically earning the same as senior civil servants in Nigeria) that serve 8 Nigerian cities (Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt, Ilorin, Benin City, Abeokuta and Asaba).

This new funding will enable Chowdeck to double down on its market leadership in these cities and lay the groundwork for further expansion into other Nigerian cities.

Driven by a combination of increased smartphone and internet penetration, improved payment systems, evolving consumer preferences and a range of other factors, there has been a significant growth in on-demand delivery services in Nigeria in recent years.

For example, heavy traffic in major cities makes it challenging for people to shop for groceries, meals, or other goods, increasing the attractiveness of delivery services that can save time.

This growth trajectory is poised to continue as many of the challenges that hampered previous attempts at providing on-demand delivery services are fixed.

Chowdeck is the fastest delivery service operating out of Africa today, allowing consumers to buy food and have it delivered to their doorstep in 30 minutes, on average.

The startup has built an effective logistics operation that food vendors can leverage to seamlessly deliver meals to customers while also providing consumers with an easy platform to order meals from their favourite restaurants in their city.

The startup has also partnered with a wide range of leading quick-service restaurants such as Chicken Republic, Burger King, Bukka Hut and more to drive sales, provide logistics infrastructure and other services to enable enhanced customer experiences.

Femi Aluko, CEO and co-founder of Chowdeck, said, “We know that Nigerians love good food, and we just want to make it as easy as possible for them to access the food they desire.

Chowdeck was birthed to fulfil this purpose and we are committed to delivering truly excellent experiences for our customers, vendors and riders. We are pleased with the success we have achieved to date and excited to have raised these funds that will enable us to replicate that success in more parts of Nigeria, and add value to our customers, vendors, and riders in as many ways as we can.”

Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack said, “Chowdeck is not only addressing the crucial need for an efficient and reliable on-demand delivery service in Nigeria, the team embodies innovation and a commitment to excellence.

It is a privilege to be part of their journey and I look forward to celebrating more success with them in months and years to come.

Apart from investing financially into the company, our experience with building Paystack puts us in a great position to provide a lot of practical support and I am excited to see what it is to come from the Chowdeck team.”

June Angelides, Partner at Levare Ventures, said “Chowdeck has quickly become a household name across Nigeria, priding itself on very high standards of execution. They are addressing a large and complicated problem, especially in Africa, delivering goods at record speed.

I am excited that they have proven that the opportunity is there beyond restaurants and supermarkets. The team have secured landmark partnerships with Shoprite, Chicken Republic and KFC, a sign of their grit. Their customers love them, their riders love them. There’s so much more to come and I’m excited to be with them on the journey”.