Funding will go towards strengthening Taimba’s warehouse and delivery logistics infrastructure and increase its delivery logistics to expand services to 6 new markets in Nairobi/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 – Kenyan business to business agri-tech startup Taimba has received Sh10.4 million in funding from US based impact investor Gray Matters Capital’s coLABS.
Taimba sources agricultural products directly from the rural small-scale farmers and delivers directly to informal green grocers, schools, hospitals and restaurants within Nairobi, thereby removing the middlemen and shrinking the agricultural value chain.
The firm’s co-founder and CEO Dominique Kavusya says funding will go towards strengthening Taimba’s warehouse and delivery logistics infrastructure and increase its delivery logistics to expand services to 6 new markets in Nairobi
Additionally, the funds will be used to pilot in Mombasa and Kisumu city by next year and will also look at introducing new products such as fruits, nuts and eggs as part of its farm product catalogue.
“The funding is a shot in the arm for us to strengthen our warehouse infrastructure by setting up cold storage facilities and our delivery logistics so that we can cater to 6 new markets within Nairobi,” Kavusya said.
Women constitute 83 percent of informal green grocers in Nairobi in the aged 22 to 39, and 80 percent of farmers in Kenya of an average age of 60.
“By delivering more money in their hands, in addition to the convenience of time, the women served by Taimba have an opportunity to create a better livelihood for themselves and their families”, said Jennifer Soltis, Portfolio Manager – coLABS, Gray Matters Capital.
“The team has built a solution that can be replicated in other markets in East Africa with minimal tweaks, and we are excited to partner with them in their growth journey.”
The funding marks the fourth investment by the impact investor in Africa after Rwanda based ARED, Ghana based Redbird Health Tech, and Nigeria based Sonocare.
Gray Matters Capital has also supported two start-ups from the continent – Kenya’s parent advisory turned e-commerce start-up MumsVillage and Sierra Leone head quartered EduFin start-up Mosabi as part of its global digital accelerator program – GMC Calibrator earlier this year.
