Chowdeck, Nigeria’s on-demand delivery service, has secured $2.5 million in seed funding to optimize its operations and support expansion into more cities across the country.

The seed funding round included investment from YCombinator, Goodwater Capital, FounderX Ventures, Hoaq Fund, Levare Ventures, True Culture Funds and Haleakala Ventures. Simon Borrero and Juan Pablo Ortega (co-founders of Rappi – Latin America’s largest online delivery platform), Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi (co-founders of Paystack – one of Africa’s leading fintech companies. Acquired by Stripe for $200m), Sudeep Ramani (Sportybet), Ayo Arikawe (Thrive Agric) and Karthik Ramakrishnan (Amazon) also participated as angels.

Since launching in October 2021 after the COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Chowdeck has acquired more than 500,000 users and more than 3,000 riders (typically earning the same as senior civil servants in Nigeria) that serve 8 Nigerian cities (Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt, Ilorin, Benin City, Abeokuta and Asaba).

This new funding will enable Chowdeck to double down on its market leadership in these cities and lay the groundwork for further expansion into other Nigerian cities.

Driven by a combination of increased smartphone and internet penetration, improved payment systems, evolving consumer preferences and a range of other factors, there has been a significant growth in on-demand delivery services in Nigeria in recent years.

For example, heavy traffic in major cities makes it challenging for people to shop for groceries, meals, or other goods, increasing the attractiveness of delivery services that can save time.

This growth trajectory is poised to continue as many of the challenges that hampered previous attempts at providing on-demand delivery services are fixed.

Chowdeck is the fastest delivery service operating out of Africa today, allowing consumers to buy food and have it delivered to their doorstep in 30 minutes, on average.

The startup has built an effective logistics operation that food vendors can leverage to seamlessly deliver meals to customers while also providing consumers with an easy platform to order meals from their favourite restaurants in their city.

The startup has also partnered with a wide range of leading quick-service restaurants such as Chicken Republic, Burger King, Bukka Hut and more to drive sales, provide logistics infrastructure and other services to enable enhanced customer experiences.

Femi Aluko, CEO and co-founder of Chowdeck, 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. We are pleased with the success we have achieved to date and excited to have raised these funds that will enable us to replicate that success in more parts of Nigeria, and add value to our customers, vendors, and riders in as many ways as we can.”

Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack said, “Chowdeck is not only addressing the crucial need for an efficient and reliable on-demand delivery service in Nigeria, the team embodies innovation and a commitment to excellence.

It is a privilege to be part of their journey and I look forward to celebrating more success with them in months and years to come.

Apart from investing financially into the company, our experience with building Paystack puts us in a great position to provide a lot of practical support and I am excited to see what it is to come from the Chowdeck team.”

June Angelides, Partner at Levare Ventures, said “Chowdeck has quickly become a household name across Nigeria, priding itself on very high standards of execution. They are addressing a large and complicated problem, especially in Africa, delivering goods at record speed.

I am excited that they have proven that the opportunity is there beyond restaurants and supermarkets. The team have secured landmark partnerships with Shoprite, Chicken Republic and KFC, a sign of their grit. Their customers love them, their riders love them. There’s so much more to come and I’m excited to be with them on the journey”.

Paga, a payments and financial services provider for Africa has processed transactions value to the tune of N14trillion in the last 15 years of its existence.

Tayo Oviosu, chief executive officer, Pagatech, said at a media interaction to mark the company’s 15 anniversary that 80 percent of the amount was done in the last five years.

“When we celebrated 10 years of our business that was five years ago, we have grown our transactions values by 7 times, across the three business arms of our operation which includes; consumer payments, platform as-a-services and super App for retailers.

“This has translated into job creation as we have created over 1,000 direct jobs in Ethiopia and in Nigeria and indirect jobs through our agent network to about 100,000 jobs, this is economic empowerment of Nigerians.

“Our desire is giving people financial freedom and making life possible for them and impacting on our community. We are really proud of our economic achievements and we are making sure that our customers get the best experience.

“We are super excited about what the future holds for our business. Our vision is a world where cash does not exist anymore. We ensure that our customers’ money is safe by complying with the highest global security standards.

“Our focus is on helping both consumers and sellers pay, get paid, and access financial services. We do this directly; and through our Platform-as-a-Service, which enables other third parties to leverage the deep infrastructure we have built for endless possibilities.

Oviosu, further explained the three business lines Paga has transformed into from a mobile money operator from inception to a financial services provider includes; Consumer payment: where anyone can open a Paga account from any type of phone, by download Paga App from Apple or android store or dial *242# from any type of phone device.

“With Paga app, you can fund the account, make payments and also have a physical Visa card or a virtual Visa card on the account. This gives you significant convenience over other bank accounts we have in the market today.

You can send money into that account from any bank account or walk into any bank branch to fund the account. You can as well go to any agent and fund or make transactions from the account,” he said.

He added that when he started the business 15 years ago, there was no infrastructure, “we had to build the required infrastructure to support the business. Two years ago, we opened our infrastructure to allow other technology companies to use it for their own business. We called this Platform as a Service. With Platform as a service we are serving 150 businesses who are using our infrastructure to execute their own businesses.

“The third arm of our business is what we called Doroki this a different brand which is super App for retail business. If you are a supermarket you use it to manage your inventory among others. This is the youngest arm of our business” he noted.

Dr John Asein, director-general, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), has said that the federal government is taking steps to finalise its National Intellectual Property (IP) Policy and Strategy for the country.

Asein disclosed this on Friday while commemorating the 2024 World Intellectual Property Day with the theme “IP and the SDGs: Building Our Common Future with Innovation and Creativity’’ in Abuja.

The that the Day is observed every April 26 to celebrate the importance of intellectual property (IP) rights to encourage innovation and creativity.

The director-general was represented by  Mr Emeka Ogbonna, director of Legal.

NCC boss said the policy would serve as a blueprint for a more efficient modern and responsive legal and administrative framework for the country to leverage on its creative and innovative potential.

He said that the day underscored the power of innovation and creativity in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and shaping a sustainable and inclusive future for humanity.

According to him, the SDGs represent a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by the year 2030.

“IP rights play a pivotal role in fostering innovation, creativity, and technological advancements. They provide the framework that encourages men and women to develop new solutions that address global challenges.

“It is the lynchpin for incentivising the use of creative and innovative ideas to solve many of the challenges that confront humanity.

“This year’s World IP Day reminds us that intellectual property can be a powerful tool for social, economic, and environmental development.

“It encourages individuals, businesses, and governments to leverage IP rights to drive innovation, create jobs, and build resilient communities.

“By aligning our intellectual property policies and strategies with the objectives of the SDGs, we can accelerate their achievement,’’ NCC boss said.

He said in the spirit of the “Renewed Hope Agenda’’ of the present administration, government had also shown appreciable commitment to the creative industry as a major sector of the economy.

“As one of the agencies responsible for the wholesome development of the creative sector, the Nigerian Copyright Commission will continue to provide the needed institutional, legal and administrative support for the protection, promotion, regulation and enforcement of copyright.

“The commission will pay particular attention to using the copyright system to advance Goal 1 (No poverty); Goal 4 (Quality education); Goal 5 (Gender equality).

“And Goal 8 (Decent and economic growth); Goal 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure) and Goal 17 (Partnerships to achieve the goals).

“We are aware that the goals would have to be adapted to fit the peculiar needs of intellectual property which is an intangible asset.’ ’he added.

The director-general, who said that the commission focused on the 17 SDGs to address emerging challenges, called on authors, innovators, users, IP experts and other stakeholders to reflect on the vulnerability of the nation’s fragile knowledge and creative ecosystem.