Noki Noki, a Congolese logistics startup that offers food delivery and supermarket shopping services, has raised $3 million in seed funding. The startup, which operates in six countries, will use the funding to scale its operations across these markets and solidify its presence in new markets including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The funding round, led by Uma Ventures, reflects continued investments in Congolese startups which account for most of the investment in the Central Africa region. In 2023, the country raised $62 million in venture capital funding, making it the largest contributor to startup funding growth in Central Africa.
Launched in 2021 by Jonathan Yanghat, the startup provides logistic solutions including Noki Food for meal delivery, Noki Drive for supermarket shopping, and Noki Pay, an integrated payment interface for its delivery products. The company, which serves over 10,000 users, claims it recorded over 1 billion CFA francs ($167 million) in transactions in 2023.
“We started the journey with a few motorcycles and a clear ambition: to revolutionize delivery and e-commerce on the continent. This funding brings us closer to our goal of becoming a reference in last-mile delivery in Africa,” Jonathan Yanghat, CEO and co-founder said in a statement.
The logisitic startup is competing with a list of logistics startups—Wikko, Vanoma, Sualoo— in Central Africa’s growing last-mile delivery market. Africa’s last-mile delivery market is experiencing an annual growth of 8.45% and is set to generate $2.35 billion by 2030, per data from Straits Research.
“Jonathan Yanghat and his team have demonstrated a keen understanding of the sector’s needs and an ability to thrive as market leaders. Their vision coincides with our strategy of building tech-enabled infrastructure, which is why we are proud to accompany them in their growth,” Vinay Vaswani, founder of Uma Ventures said.
