Twiga Foods, the Kenyan platform facilitating connections between farmers and food vendors, has successfully secured undisclosed funding in a strategic move to refinance its operations. This development comes in the wake of a recent legal challenge, where the company faced a KES 40 million (USD 261,878.75) debt collection lawsuit initiated by Incentro Africa, a cloud services vendor.
The undisclosed funding was procured as part of Twiga’s comprehensive business refinancing efforts, a significant turnaround occurring mere weeks after the cloud services dispute. Notably, the financing was sourced from prominent investors, including Creadev, Juven, TLcom Capital Partners, and DOB Equity. These same investors had previously participated in Twiga’s Series C funding round in 2021, which raised an impressive $50 million.
Peter Njonjo, Twiga’s CEO, addressed the recent developments in a Medium article that has since been deleted. In the statement, Njonjo announced the completion of the restructuring and refinancing process, assuring suppliers that long-overdue payments would be settled promptly. This marks a notable shift from Twiga’s initial stance of disputing Incentro’s debt claim, where the company had vehemently criticized the lawsuit as being “made in bad faith” and driven by ulterior motives.
read also Twiga Foods Co-founders Acquire Kenyan Microfinance Bank
Twiga had initially characterized the legal action as “unreasonable and motivated by malice.” Nevertheless, the company later confirmed engaging in negotiations with Incentro to resolve the outstanding debt. Throughout the liquidation proceedings, Twiga strategically argued that any harm to its reputation could dissuade other suppliers from pursuing similar legal actions. As of late 2022, Twiga had established relationships with over 140 suppliers, emphasizing the company’s pivotal role in the Kenyan agricultural ecosystem.
Twiga Foods Twiga Foods
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard