Chowdeck, a Nigerian Delivery Service, Secures $2.5M in Funding

Chowdeck, a popular delivery service in Nigeria, just got a big boost! They’ve received $2.5 million to make their service even better in Nigeria.

Lots of investors believed in Chowdeck’s potential and put their money into it. People from FounderX Ventures, True Culture Funds, Hoaq Fund, Levare Ventures, Haleakala Ventures, YCombinator, Goodwater Capital, and True Culture Funds, as well as some individual investors like Ayo Arikawe, Shola Akinlade, Ezra Olubi, Sudeep Ramani, Karthik Ramakrishnan, Simon Borrero, and Juan Pablo Ortega all joined in.

The idea for Chowdeck came from Femi Aluko, who used to work at Paystack. When he visited Dubai in 2021, he saw how fast food delivery could be. That’s when he decided to start Chowdeck. Now, in just two years, Chowdeck has grown a lot, with 500,000 users in eight cities. In the last six months alone, they gained 200,000 new users!

Chowdeck made exclusive deals with big brands like Chicken Republic and Shoprite, which helped them get more users. Now, with the new money, they want to expand to even more cities in Nigeria by the end of 2024.

Aluko, Chowdeck’s CEO, said, “We know that Nigerians love good food, and we just want to make it as easy as possible for them to access the food they desire. Chowdeck was birthed to fulfil this purpose, and we are committed to delivering truly excellent experiences for our customers, vendors, and riders,” 

Nigeria’s delivery market is growing fast, but it’s not easy. Chowdeck has faced challenges like bad roads and traffic, but they’re still going strong. Unlike some competitors who offer cheap delivery, Chowdeck focuses on making a profit from each delivery. Aluko says their ideal customer is someone who wants to save time by ordering food.

Chowdeck also pays its delivery riders well, with some making more than the national minimum wage.

Chowdeck’s success shows that focusing on making money and providing great service can go hand in hand.