Winich Farms, a Nigerian agritech company has raised $3 million in pre-series fund
making it the company’s second funding in two years.
Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF) led the round, contributing $2.5 million while Sahel Capital provided $590,000 in debt.
Climate Resilient Africa Fund, Marula Square, Plug and Play Tech Centre, Acasia Ventures, and a Capital also participated in the round.
About Winich Farms
Riches Attai, Winner Attai and Chichebem Jibunoh,founded Winich Farms in 2020.
The company helps farmers in rural areas sell their produce to off-takers—retailers and informal processors.
How Winich Works
A retailer places an order via the mobile app.
The order is passed on to agents for bidding.
The agents rally the local farmers within a vicinity to bring the produce to the collection points.
The collection points are run by agents who process orders from off-takers.
Truck drivers pick the produce from collection points for delivery within 24 to 72 hours.
According to the company, farmers get fair deals in negotiations for their produce, which the company then sells to offtakers at slightly marked-up margins.
Winich Farms splits revenue in three among the farmers, the agents, and the company.
The company said it processes monthly orders up to ₦3.7 billion ($2.2 million) and has grown its gross merchandise value (GMV) by 300% since 2022 to $30 million.
“Our growth has come from growing the number of agents on our platform. In 2022, we had about 1,000 agents. But at the start of [2024], we reached over 4,000 agents, quadrupling our growth. With more agents, we meet demand faster,” said co-founder and CEO Riches Attai.
The agritech claims it serves over 150,000 users, including farmers, agents, and truck drivers.
Winich Farms offers other services including:
- provides access to credit by connecting farmers to financial institution partners to provide financing.
- issues Verve cards to rural, underbanked farmers in partnership with Sterling Bank.
The Fund Raised
Winich Farms will use the equity funding to improve its technology and scale its card operations to compete in Africa’s growing agritech market with other players like ThriveAgric, AgroMall, and Zowasel.
The debt funding will be utilised to lease buildings that will serve as regional distribution hubs across the six geo-political areas of Nigeria.
Tamer El-Raghy, managing director of ARAB commenting on the funding said:
“Investing in Winich Farms aligns with our goal at ARAF of growing local businesses that support smallholder farmers towards increased productivity, sustainable agricultural development, better livelihoods, and increased food security.”