Farmcrowdy, a Nigerian agritech platform, has acquired a majority stake in agro company, Best Foods, for an undisclosed amount. The deal will see Farmcrowdy deepen its penetration in the livestock value chain.
“This deal with Farmcrowdy is a welcome development for us,” said Emmanuel Ijewere, Founder of Best Foods. “It provides a major growth opportunity for both businesses. We are excited about the many possibilities,” he added.
Founded in 2016, Farmwcrowdy is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to invest directly in the agricultural sector. The company uses the fund to support farmers, providing them with financing, agricultural extension support and market access. This helps to improve the income of farmers and increases the supply of healthy food in the market.
Over the past year, the company has been on the diversification path. Beyond crowdfunding and helping farmers improve their yields, the company has pushed deeper and quietly into the livestock business. A source at the company told TechCabal last year that the company supplies fresh meat to some top restaurants in Lagos.
The acquisition of Best Foods announces Farmcrowdy’s formal entry into the retail meat market. It is planning to launch Farmcrowdy Meat Hubs by the second quarter of 2020. As part of the deal, Best Foods’ founder, Ijewere will join Farmcrowdy as a member of the advisory board.
Founded 16 years ago, Best Foods operates different agro verticals including livestock processing, farming and agro-retailing services within Nigeria.
“Best Foods offers an exciting opportunity for Farmcrowdy to strengthen and expand its service offering in livestock production, processing, and supply” Kenneth Obiajulu, Managing Director of Farmcrowdy, said.
Now there is a high demand for meat in the Nigerian market. For instance, Lagos alone consumes 2 million cows annually. Meanwhile, Nigeria consumes 1.2 billion poultry meat. Best Foods is one of many companies tapping into this demand pool. The company is one of the largest meat processors in Lagos and Nigeria and has the capacity to process 120 – 200 bulls every day.
“With a range of high profile clients, the acquisition supports Farmcrowdy’s strategy to lead the market and meet the requirements necessary to process approximately 45 cattle every day for meat consumption in Lagos,” said Obiajulu.
Also, with the acquisition, Farmcrowdy will control Best Foods’ “assets, team and customer contracts to supply meat across Nigeria,” a release said. Farmcrowdy’s retail meat service will serve fresh beef and poultry meat to 50 meat markets across the south-west region of Nigeria including 100 customer endpoints.
Interestingly, this is another example of the growing mergers and acquisition trend that has been growing in Africa since 2019.
