Afrikamart, the leading agritech West African start-up is announcing the closing of a USD$850,000 seed round of financing from leading venture capital groups including the BLOC Smart Africa fund managed by Bamboo Capital Partners, Orange Ventures, Launch Africa and Teranga Capital.

The proceeds from the financing will allow the company to ramp-up its purchases from smallholder farmers across the country and efficiently manage the logistics and last mile delivery of 14 fresh types of vegetables directly to street vendors and small retailers, restaurants and hotels in Dakar and Mbour. By doing that, Afrikamart will create efficiencies, enhance information and trust in the marketplace, increase the diversity and quality of local produce available to consumers, eliminate late payments by intermediaries, reduce waste (up to 50% of fresh produces is typically wasted), and position itself as the buyer and seller of choice for both producers and retailers. The company was founded in 2018 by three-time entrepreneurs Mignane Diouf, a software engineer, and Albert Diouf, an agricultural commodity trader.

Afrikamart’s end-to-end solution allows a formalization of the fresh food value chain and the empowerment of small market operators. To date, nearly 2,000 farmers have provided Afrikamart with fresh produce; up to 10 tons have been delivered per day to 500 regular customers across 4 cities in Senegal. The company expects to have onboarded a total of 5,000 farmers and 2,000 retailers by year-end.