Wamda Capital - led investment consortium has invested $10.4m in Twiga Foods, a mobile-based food supply system for Kenya's urban retailers.

The Series A funding round includes $6.3m in equity and $4m in debt instruments. 

Investors in the round include Omidyar Network, DOB Equity, Uqalo, 1776, Blue Haven Initiative, Alpha Mundi, and AHL Venture Partners.

The investment will enable Twiga to increase the number of vendors it is able to serve each day in Nairobi, diversify its product portfolio, and introduce advanced supplier services. 

Fadi Ghandour, Chairman of Wamda Capital, who will be joining the Twiga Board of Directors, said: "Twiga represents our first investment in East Africa, a new geography for us in which we plan on being increasingly more active. We are particularly excited in beginning our investment program in East Africa by supporting this remarkable set of entrepreneurs building a truly disruptive business.”

“Drawing on our experience in the logistics and supply chain space, we believe Twiga has developed a unique solution to address the inherent inefficiencies in the delivery of fresh produce in East Africa with significant positive impact for both producers and consumers,” he said.

Established in 2014, Twiga aims to create a fair and sustainable marketplace for producers, vendors, and consumers by using technology to consolidate the fragmented purchasing power of urban retailers, saving them a trip to the market by delivering better quality, better priced, stock directly to their doorstep. 

Twiga then translates this aggregated purchasing power to farmers across the country allowing them to access stable markets at better prices, while minimizing post-harvest losses through efficient logistics. 

Today, Twiga is the largest distributor of several basic food staples in Kenya, having sold more than 55 million bananas alone and delivering more than 4,000 orders a week. 

"We are pleased to support Twiga and its mission of helping Kenya create a more sustainable, scalable farm produce ecosystem," said Ory Okolloh, Director of Investments at Omidyar Network. 

"Twiga is a strong example of how to seize a huge opportunity-addressing both the inefficiencies in wholesale fresh fruit and vegetable markets and poor last mile solutions both for farmers and vendors -and how tech and data can help significantly improve living standards." 

Additional to the Series A round closing, Twiga closed some $2m in grant funding from USAID, GSMA, and others to support bolt-on farmer services, financial inclusion, and first of their kind domestic food safety initiatives. 

"The addition of new partners into Twiga, and continued support of our current stakeholders, is a huge affirmation that there's a better way to build marketplaces for Kenya and the rest of urban Africa. We can get consumers and suppliers a better deal, and this support will go a long way in achieving those goals,” said Peter Njonjo, Co-Founder, Twiga Foods.