TheCable

ThriveAgric, a Nigerian agric tech, says it has secured $56.4 million in debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors to help its expansion plans.

Debt funding is when a company raises money by selling debts instruments to investors.

The company disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the company, the fund also includes a co-investment grant of $1.75 million from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment.

ThriveAgric said the new investment would enable the company to grow its 200,000 farmer base and expand into new African markets, including Ghana, Zambia and Kenya.  

Uka Eje, chief executive officer, ThriveAgric, said the investment will help farmers access finance and improve productivity and sales to promote food security.

“The new investment takes us one step closer to fulfilling our mission of building the largest network of profitable African farmers using technology to ensure food security. We look ahead with renewed confidence knowing that our smallholder farmers will benefit financially even more from this new investment,” Eje said.

“Despite a volatile backdrop over the past few years, brought about by the global pandemic, ThriveAgric witnessed temporary payment disruptions to our retail crowd funders.

“However, we overcame those challenges within a year and maintained company profitability. Our solid financial performance underscores investors’ faith in ThriveAgric.

“It is great to see that the market has overwhelmingly backed our farmers and they are confident in the strategic decisions we have taken. ThriveAgric has increased its footprint to 20 states in Nigeria, and we look forward to a lengthy period of growth as we continue to link African farmers to capital, data-driven best practices and access to local and global markets for their commodities.”

On his part, Ayo Arikawe, ThriveAgric co-founder and chief technical officer, also said the investment aims to make Africa a food self-sufficient continent.

“ThriveAgric’s fundraising objectives are geared towards growth through vertical and horizontal integration. One of our goals is to be able to widen access to markets for our smallholder farmers, help to lift them out of poverty, and ultimately promote food security. We do this by enabling them to take their produce to local and international markets,” Arikawe said. 

“We’re thrilled and excited to receive support from such high calibre investors. Their financial backing is an essential step in fulfilling ThriveAgric’s vision to build an Africa that feeds herself and the world.”