ThriveAgric, a fast-growing technology-driven agricultural company, has announced plans to raise $56.4 million debt funding from local commercial banks and institutional investors to empower over 200,000 farmers with its $56.4 million.

According to a statement posted on its Twitter account, the company explained that the investment would also enable it expand into new African markets, including Ghana, Zambia and Kenya.

The company noted that the fresh funding also included a co-investment grant of $1.75 million from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment.

Commenting on the impact the funds will have, Chief Executive Officer, ThriveAgric, Uka Eje said:

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. 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,

he added.

The latest funding followed the $9 million the company raised in 2020.

Over the past 12 months, ThriveAgric’s revenues have increased five-fold, with a year-on-year increase of 277 per cent in farmer numbers. The strong margin performance was boosted by farmers using the company’s AOS proprietary product.

The company supports Africa’s agriculture sector by assisting smallholder farmers in producing high-quality grains.

Harvests, including maize, rice and soybeans, are stored in many of the company’s 450+ warehouses in Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina states in Nigeria, before being commoditised and offered to local and global trade markets at a premium price.

Farmers assisted by ThriveAgric can charge premium rates for their commodities, allowing them to increase their incomes up to 25 per cent.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.