The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) has led a $26 million Series B financing in Tanzanian agritech business East Africa Foods (EAF), investing through InfraCo, its equity arm. The round is part of a wider $40 million raise. Oikocredit and FMO, the Dutch development bank, participated in the equity round, as did returning funders ARAF, Goodwell, Africa Eats, and FINCA.
Debt makes up a portion of the rest. The Schmidt Family Foundation supplied debt capital, existing owners increased their investment, and EKTA Partners served as the sole financial consultant on the transaction.
EAF purchases directly from over 28,000 registered smallholder farmers and sells to over 10,000 city-based shops. It manages the entire supply chain (aggregate, grading, storage, processing, and distribution), and it sells to consumers under two brands: Onja and Golden Banana.
The money will be used to expand processing, storage, and logistics capacity, strengthen the digital platform, and enter new markets, beginning with Kenya. EAF also intends to expand the software that connects its farmers, branches, and retailers, as well as to train more farmers in climate-smart agricultural practices.
The targets are specific. EAF hopes to work with 100,000 smallholder farmers within a few years, with women accounting for around 45% of them, and to cut food waste by one-third across its network.
Founder and CEO Elia Timotheo puts the waste issue bluntly: “A third of what our farmers grow never reaches anyone’s table.” He claims that the culprit is a lack of infrastructure, not poor farming, and that EAF has spent three years developing the sourcing network, truck fleet, storage, and software that connects small farms to city shelves.
Claire Jarratt, head of investment management for InfraCo at PIDG, said EAF meets the group’s objective for inclusive, climate-resilient growth, and that extending into Kenya could help attract more funding and boost regional food security. According to Peter Byrde, FMO’s private equity director, a commercially viable agri-logistics model could attract additional private investments in the coming years.
