Kenya based TopUp Mama provides African restaurants supplies, financial services and tools to manage their business.
The B2B eCommerce company has closed $1.7M, led by Ventures Platform and JAM Fund. Others to join the round include Next Billion Ventures, Future Africa, Jedar Capital HoaQ Fund, First Check Africa and San Fransisco based DFS Labs. TopUp Mama will use these funds to accelerate our growth, build technology, and scale sales its sales management tools for restaurants.
Despite more than one-third of food consumption in urban Africa happening outside the home, the millions of food businesses supporting this consumption still rely on informal wet markets and retailers to purchase their supplies. In addition, these businesses do not have access to financing despite them collectively grossing over $60B in sales annually. This is what TopUp Mama is fixing.
Founded by Zambian, Njavwa Mutambo, and two other co-founders, Andrew Kibe and Emilie Blauwhoff, TopUp Mama – a one-stop-shop for restaurants in Kenya and Nigeria, provides restaurants with all the needed supplies short term credit and the tools to manage their businesses.
“ I grew up in the restaurant business in Zambia, and I know first-hand the power that small businesses have in transforming lives, and this is why we’re passionate about our mission of increasing restaurant contribution to Africa’s GDP. ‘’ Says Njavwa Mutambo, TopUp Mama’s CEO.
Restaurants choose from hundreds of products through the platform, from proteins to cleaning products and drinks. In addition, restaurants can access short term credit from TopUp Mama. Since raising its pre-seed ten months ago, the 12-month-old company has grown 1168%, signed up over 3000 restaurants, and expanded to Nigeria.
The restaurant industry contributes to 3% of Africa’s GDP and is one of the largest employers on the continent but has been underserved for a long time. Covid-19 forced restaurant owners to seek new, digital ways to procure their supplies, manage their businesses and increase sales. “ We believe we have a unique opportunity to not only build Africa’s most prominent restaurant partner but also build one of the largest companies Africa has ever seen”, Say’s Njavwa Mutambo
Ventures Platform founder Kola Aina says, “Topup Mama empowers restaurant owners with access to affordable foodstuffs and powerful data analytics to deliver the delicious meals that keep us sustained and bring us together. Importantly, they also help restaurants grow their customer base while improving efficiency. We are excited about Njavwa and his team’s impact across restaurants – which serve as the heartbeat of neighbourhoods in Africa.”
[ The above article follows the press statement from Techcrunch]
