Kenyan agri-tech startup Twiga Foods, one of the best-funded ventures on the African continent, has temporarily suspended its Nairobi operations for two months as part of what it says is the “final stage” of its business overhaul.
Founded in 2014, Twiga is a B2B food distribution company that builds fair and reliable markets for agricultural producers and retailers through transparency, efficiency and technology. The startup operates a B2B e-commerce system to simplify the supply chain between fresh food producers, FMCG manufacturers and retailers, that removes the need for many intermediaries, significantly lowering the cost of food for consumers.
Twiga raised a US$50 million Series C round in 2021, and US$35 million more in late 2023, but has found the going tough since. It has struggled to raise new capital in the wake of the global capital shortage, cut its workforce by 40 per cent in 2023, and has faced claims of delayed vendor payments and staff salaries. Founding CEO Peter Njonjo stepped down last year, to be replaced by former Jumia Kenya executive Charles Ballard.
The company is taking an “operational break” in Nairobi, which will allow it to relocate from its current distribution hub at Tatu City in Kiambu County to a more strategically located facility closer to Nairobi. This comes amidst a wider business restructuring and pivot, which has seen the creation of a new holding company – “newco” – and job cuts affecting over 300 employees.
Twiga is in the process of pivoting from being a fresh produce supplier into a full-service FMCG platform, and with that goal in mind announced in April it had acquired majority stakes in three local fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies – Jumra, Sojpar, and Raisons.
The acquisitions are aimed at strengthening Twiga’s procurement capabilities, and widening its footprint across the Central, Western, and Coastal regions.
