Chowdeck’s $9M raise fuels quick commerce gamble in Africa’s food delivery wars
Recently, Chowdeck announced closing a $9 million series A round, a big leap for a startup that has been quietly rewriting the rules of food delivery in Nigeria. This milestone signifies both investors’ confidence in the company’s growth and the growing hype for food delivery across Nigeria.
The funding round, led by Novastar Ventures and backed by other investors like Y Combinator, GFR Fund, Kaloe, AALC Investment, Rebel Fund, HOAQ and others, brings new firepower to the four-year-old startup as it looks to expand and deepen its push into quick-commerce.
Launched in 2021 by former Paystack Engineer, Femi Aluko and his co-founders, Olumide Ojo and Lanre Yusuf, the Lagos-based startup, Chowdeck, entered a market that had already seen equal amounts of failures and wins. Logistics costs were unstable, customers were sceptical of reliability, and bigwigs like Glovo and Bolt Food were there to contend with.
But while others chased scale, Chowdeck leaned into speed and a tight logistics operation. Riders dressed in bright green jackets became a familiar sight in Lagos, known for delivering food and groceries in minutes rather than hours.
Before long, Chowdeck started raking in the numbers. Today, it claims 1.5 million customers across 11 cities in Nigeria and Ghana, has over 20,000 riders, partnerships with Chicken Republic, Shoprite and KFC and gets billions of naira in orders each month.
ALSO READ: HoneyCoin raises $4.9M to expand cross-border payments in Africa’s crowded fintech arena
Quick-commerce: a bold bet
On paper, this looks like another funding story, but in reality, it is more about what comes next. Chowdeck has managed to stay profitable before bringing in this new cash, which gives it some breathing room, but also raises expectations.
The company has been open about its next play: Quick-Commerce. The idea is simple, but it might be costly.
The new model implies that customers should be able to order groceries and everyday items and get them within minutes. To enable this, Chowdeck plans to build a network of dark stores, compact warehouses closer to residential areas, starting with 40 before the end of 2025 and scaling to 500 by the following year. If successful, the model could cut delivery times drastically and diversify the business away from just restaurant meals. But this is not without risks.
To contextualise, India’s quick-commerce darling Zepto, which raised nearly $2 billion in funding to build a 10-minute grocery network, still logged losses of approximately $150 million in FY24 (April 2023–March 2024). In Nigeria’s food delivery scene, even established players struggle to break even. For example, Jumia Food reportedly lost money on every order, citing poor unit economics, high fuel costs, and intense last-mile logistics pressure. That’s a real‑world counterpoint to Chowdeck’s quick‑commerce pivot, reminding readers just how capital‑hungry and risky the model has been locally.
Drawing from history, the infrastructural investment required for dark stores is quite heavy, and customer expectations for near-instant delivery can strain even the best-funded companies. Bolt Food also tested in Nigeria and later exited. And, there is also the new expansion to Ghana that should be considered.
Where Chowdeck might stand out from its competitors is its community. From inception, the startup has always had a boots-on-ground approach, which inadvertently means that the startup has a good customer service relationship, a connection that has earned it loyalty. And according to Aluko, Chowdeck’s bet is also that with profitability already in hand and a more disciplined operating style, it can avoid those pitfalls that others fell headlong in.
Why quick-commerce matters
As much as Africans love food, food delivery has often been written off as a bad bet. Too expensive, too hard to scale, too unpredictable. Chowdeck has not solved all these issues, but it is showing that with transparent pricing, close partnerships with food chains, and now, a plan to move into quick-commerce, its model can work differently. Coupled with Chowdeck’s $9 million raise on ground and investors betting on its profitability and ambition to keep scaling, Chowdeck has a shot at becoming more than just a delivery app.
But whether it becomes a giant across Africa or simply a strong home-based player, it has already made an impact that food delivery here might not just survive, it might thrive. For now, it is clear that Chowdeck is not slowing down; it is moving forward. And in a market where many have fallen, that in itself is a story worth watching and applauding.
Do you have an innovative business (small, mid-scale business or startup) that adds value, creates opportunities or solves bold problems? Then you’ve got a story worth telling! Shoot an email with SUBJECT “Story Worth Telling (+Name of Business)” to [email protected]
