Chowdeck Raises $9M Series A to Expand in Nigeria and Ghana

BREAKING NEWSAugust 11, 2025 at 10:41 AM UTC

TLDR

Lagos-based food delivery startup Chowdeck has secured $9 million in Series A funding to accelerate expansion in Nigeria and Ghana
The round was led by Novastar Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, AAIC Investment, Rebel Fund, GFR Fund, Kaleo, HoaQ, and others
Founded in 2021, Chowdeck operates in 11 cities across both countries, serving 1.5 million customers through a network of 20,000+ riders and averaging 30-minute delivery times

Lagos-based food delivery startup Chowdeck has secured $9 million in Series A funding to accelerate expansion in Nigeria and Ghana and launch a quick commerce strategy built around dark stores and hyperlocal logistics hubs.

The round was led by Novastar Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, AAIC Investment, Rebel Fund, GFR Fund, Kaleo, HoaQ, and others. Founded in 2021, Chowdeck operates in 11 cities across both countries, serving 1.5 million customers through a network of 20,000+ riders and averaging 30-minute delivery times.

CEO and co-founder Femi Aluko stated that the funding will enable the opening of 40 dark stores by year-end and 500 by 2026, while expanding the grocery footprint and reducing delivery times. The company has been profitable since before the raise and aims to break even in new markets within weeks of entry.

Chowdeck recently entered Ghana, reaching 1,000 daily orders within three months without paid ads, and plans to grow that to 5,000 daily orders by September 2025. Its acquisition of Mira, a POS provider for African food and hospitality businesses, will enable it to combine SaaS tools with logistics for restaurants.

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Points clés à retenir

While global quick commerce players like Getir and Gorillas have struggled with capital-intensive models, Chowdeck is betting on local market expertise, a measured city-by-city rollout, and a focus on local cuisine—an operationally complex but loyalty-driving segment. The company’s profitability-first approach contrasts with the burn-heavy strategies seen elsewhere, positioning it to scale sustainably in markets where device affordability, infrastructure gaps, and payment challenges make last-mile logistics difficult. By pairing dark stores with restaurant delivery and grocery services, and layering in POS software from the Mira acquisition, Chowdeck is building a vertically integrated SaaS-plus-logistics platform. This could give it a defensible moat against both regional competitors, such as Glovo, and super app challengers, including Yassir and MNT-Halan. With Jumia’s exit and partial pullbacks from other foreign operators, Chowdeck’s expansion push may allow it to capture underserved demand and emerge as one of the first African-born super apps in last-mile delivery.

Venture Capital

Startups

Chowdeck

Series A

Venture Funding

E-commerce

Nigeria

Ghana