DisrupTech Ventures backs Nigeria’s Winich Farms, marking its Sub-Saharan Africa debut

In a landmark move poised to reshape the landscape of agricultural finance and technology across Africa, Egypt-based DisrupTech Ventures, a prominent early-stage fintech fund, has announced its first foray into Sub-Saharan Africa with a strategic investment in Winich Farms, a dynamic Nigerian agri-fintech startup. This significant backing, part of Winich Farms’ pre-Series A funding round, not only marks a pivotal moment for both companies but also underscores the burgeoning potential of cross-continental collaborations in driving economic growth and food security on the African continent.

The investment highlights a growing trend where seasoned venture capital firms from established tech hubs in North Africa are increasingly looking southwards, recognizing the immense, often untapped, opportunities within Sub-Saharan Africa’s rapidly digitizing economies. For DisrupTech Ventures, a fund renowned for its keen eye on disruptive financial technologies, Winich Farms represents an ideal inaugural investment, addressing critical challenges within one of Africa’s most vital sectors – agriculture – through innovative fintech solutions.

DisrupTech Ventures: A Catalyst for Fintech Innovation

Founded with a clear vision to foster innovation within the financial technology sector, DisrupTech Ventures has quickly emerged as a leading early-stage fund in Egypt and the broader MENA region. Their portfolio typically reflects a strategic focus on startups that leverage technology to enhance financial inclusion, optimize payment systems, and introduce novel financial services. Their expertise spans various facets of fintech, from digital lending platforms to payment gateways and blockchain-based solutions.

Prior to this investment in Winich Farms, DisrupTech has been instrumental in nurturing numerous Egyptian and regional fintech successes. Their investment philosophy is not just about providing capital; it’s about offering strategic guidance, leveraging their extensive network, and sharing deep industry insights to help early-stage companies scale rapidly and sustainably. This hands-on approach has earned them a reputation as a valued partner for burgeoning startups.

The decision to invest in Winich Farms signifies a calculated expansion of DisrupTech’s geographical focus. While the MENA region continues to present significant opportunities, the immense market size, youthful population, and rapid tech adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Nigeria – Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy – offer unparalleled growth prospects. This move by DisrupTech could well set a precedent, encouraging other North African and Middle Eastern funds to explore similar cross-border investment opportunities, thereby fostering a more integrated and robust pan-African tech ecosystem. It signifies a maturation of the African VC landscape, moving beyond localized investments to embrace a continental outlook where solutions developed in one region can be scaled to address similar challenges elsewhere.

Mohamed Okasha, Managing Partner at DisrupTech Ventures, articulated this strategic rationale: “Our investment in Winich reflects our conviction in the potential of Nigeria’s agri-fintech sector and the scalability of its model. Winich is not only solving real problems for smallholder farmers but doing so with a scalable model. Agriculture is also core to Egypt’s economy, and we look forward to sharing insights and best practices between both markets as Winich grows across the continent.” This statement highlights a key benefit of this cross-border collaboration: the potential for knowledge transfer and sharing of best practices between two agriculturally significant nations, promising mutual growth and innovation.

Winich Farms: Revolutionizing Nigerian Agriculture from the Ground Up

Lagos-based Winich Farms is at the forefront of tackling some of the most persistent and pervasive challenges facing Nigeria’s agriculture sector. Despite its immense contribution, the sector remains significantly underdeveloped due to critical issues like market fragmentation and a severe lack of financial inclusion for its most crucial stakeholders – the smallholder farmers.

The Agricultural Backbone of Nigeria:

Agriculture is the bedrock of the Nigerian economy, a vital source of livelihood for millions, and a significant contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It accounts for approximately 21% of Nigeria’s GDP and employs a substantial portion of the labor force, particularly in rural areas. The sector is dominated by smallholder farmers, who comprise an estimated 80% of the farming population and are responsible for producing a staggering 90% of the country’s total agricultural output. Despite their pivotal role, these farmers often operate at the margins, excluded from modern supply chains and formal financial systems.

The Challenges Addressed by Winich Farms:

1. Market Fragmentation: Smallholder farmers typically sell their produce through multiple layers of intermediaries, from local aggregators to wholesalers. Each layer takes a cut, significantly eroding the farmer’s profit margins. This fragmented market makes it difficult for farmers to access fair prices and for buyers (off-takers) to source consistent quality and quantity. The lack of direct market access also leads to significant post-harvest losses, as produce spoils before it can reach a buyer. In Nigeria, post-harvest losses can range from 15% to 60% depending on the crop, translating to billions of dollars lost annually.
2. Lack of Financial Inclusion: The vast majority of smallholder farmers in Nigeria, like many parts of Africa, lack access to formal financial services such as bank accounts, credit, and insurance. This exclusion stems from several factors:
   • Informal Transactions: Most transactions are cash-based, leaving no digital footprint or formal record of income, which banks require for credit assessment.
   • Lack of Collateral: Farmers often do not possess the traditional collateral (like land titles) required by financial institutions.
   • Perceived Risk: Financial institutions often view agriculture as a high-risk sector due to its dependence on weather patterns, commodity price volatility, and pest/disease outbreaks.
     This lack of access to finance severely limits farmers’ ability to invest in improved seeds, fertilizers, modern equipment, or even expand their operations, trapping them in a cycle of subsistence farming.

Winich Farms has stepped in with a comprehensive digital platform designed to bridge these critical gaps, creating a more inclusive and efficient agricultural value chain. Currently operational in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, Winich has rapidly established itself as a vital link, empowering over 180,000 smallholder farmers.

Winich Farms’ Innovative Solutions:

• Direct Market Access & Elimination of Intermediaries: Winich’s digital platform directly connects smallholder farmers with a diverse range of off-takers, including large processors, aggregators, and small retailers. By bypassing multiple layers of middlemen, farmers receive better prices for their produce, significantly increasing their profitability. This direct connection also ensures a more stable and predictable market for farmers, reducing uncertainty.
• Efficient Produce Aggregation & Logistics: The company leverages a countrywide network of agent collection points. These local agents serve as hubs where farmers can bring their harvested produce. Winich then facilitates efficient aggregation and logistics, ensuring produce is collected, sorted, and transported to off-takers without the need for Winich to own extensive physical infrastructure. This asset-light model allows for rapid scalability and operational efficiency.
• Winich Cards & Digital Financial Records: A cornerstone of Winich’s financial inclusion strategy is their state-of-the-art Winich Cards. These cards facilitate digital payments, shifting farmers away from cash transactions. Crucially, every digital transaction processed through the Winich Card helps build a digital financial record for the farmer. This historical data – documenting income, sales, and potentially input purchases – is invaluable. It provides a verifiable financial history that formal financial institutions can use to assess creditworthiness, making it possible for farmers to qualify for loans and other financial services they were previously excluded from. This transition from informal cash economies to formalized digital transactions is a game-changer for financial inclusion.
• Direct Credit & Agronomic Advisory Services: Beyond market access and digital payments, Winich Farms offers direct credit facilities to farmers, enabling them to purchase essential inputs like quality seeds, fertilizers, and tools. This credit is often tied to their produce sales, creating a sustainable repayment model. Furthermore, in partnership with the Kebbi Agricultural Research Development Agency (KARDA), Winich provides crucial agronomic advisory services. This includes expert advice on best farming practices, crop selection, pest and disease management, and climate-smart agriculture techniques. Such guidance is vital for helping farmers improve productivity, enhance crop quality, and increase yields, ultimately leading to higher incomes and improved food security.

The Macro Backdrop: Navigating Economic Headwinds

The investment in Winich Farms comes at a particularly opportune moment, given the challenging macro-economic environment in Nigeria. The country has experienced significant economic shifts, notably the devaluation of the Naira. A currency devaluation means that the Naira now buys fewer units of foreign currency (like the US dollar). This has several profound impacts, especially on the agricultural sector:

• Surge in Agri-Related Input Costs: Many essential agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and improved seeds, are either imported or contain imported components. When the Naira devalues, these imported inputs become significantly more expensive in local currency. This directly increases the cost of production for farmers, squeezing their already thin profit margins.
• Rising Interest Rates: Central banks often raise interest rates in response to currency depreciation and inflation, aiming to stabilize the economy. Higher interest rates make it more expensive for farmers to borrow money for investments or operational needs, further constraining their ability to scale.

In this challenging environment, Winich Farms’ solutions become even more critical. By providing direct access to markets, they help farmers mitigate the impact of rising costs by ensuring they get fair prices for their produce. By facilitating access to credit, even amidst higher interest rates, they provide a lifeline for farmers to access necessary inputs. Winich effectively acts as a buffer against these economic headwinds, offering timely and impactful solutions that address both market access and access to finance – two of the biggest hurdles for Nigeria’s agricultural sector, exacerbated by the devaluation.

Scaling Across Continents: Winich Farms’ Ambitious Future

Looking beyond its impressive achievements within Nigeria, Winich Farms harbors ambitious plans for continental expansion and global market penetration. The company intends to leverage its proven success in Nigeria to scale its model across other African markets. The challenges faced by Nigerian smallholder farmers – market fragmentation, post-harvest losses, and financial exclusion – are not unique to Nigeria; they are prevalent across many African nations. This inherent scalability of Winich’s solution makes it highly adaptable to other contexts.

The exploration of export partnerships into the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region represents another strategic frontier. Demand for reliable, traceable, and tech-enabled agricultural supply chains is rapidly rising in MENA markets, driven by factors such as:

• Food Security Concerns: Many MENA countries are net food importers and are highly vulnerable to global food price fluctuations and supply chain disruptions. Securing stable, high-quality food sources is a top priority.
• Consumer Preferences: Growing middle classes in MENA are increasingly demanding high-quality, traceable, and sustainably produced food products.
• Technological Adoption: MENA markets are generally tech-savvy and receptive to digital solutions that can streamline supply chains and enhance efficiency.

Winich Farms, with its platform enabling transparent tracking from farm to market, is exceptionally well-positioned to meet this demand. By ensuring traceability and quality, Winich can provide MENA buyers with the assurances they need, opening up significant export opportunities for Nigerian and, eventually, other African produce. This vision positions Winich Farms not merely as a domestic success story but as a potential continental leader in post-harvest agri-fintech solutions, facilitating crucial trade flows and fostering regional economic integration.

Attai Riches, CEO and Co-founder of Winich Farms, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership: “We are excited to welcome DisrupTech Ventures on board as we enter our next phase of growth. Their experience in scaling early-stage fintechs will be invaluable as we strengthen our operations, empower more farmers, and explore expansion opportunities across Africa and beyond. This partnership reinforces our vision to build a more inclusive and efficient agricultural value chain, starting from Nigeria and reaching out to global markets.” Riches’ statement underscores the strategic importance of DisrupTech’s expertise, particularly in the intricate world of fintech, which will be crucial for Winich as it navigates the complexities of financial regulations and digital payment infrastructure across different countries.

The Broader African Agri-Tech and Fintech Landscape

This investment by DisrupTech Ventures into Winich Farms is reflective of a broader, exciting narrative unfolding across Africa: the convergence of agriculture and technology, particularly financial technology, to unlock immense potential.

The Rise of Agri-Tech in Africa:

Africa’s agricultural sector, despite its challenges, holds enormous promise. With a vast amount of arable land and a rapidly growing population, it is critical for food security and economic development. Agri-tech startups in Africa are leveraging mobile penetration, data analytics, and innovative business models to address long-standing issues. These innovations range from precision farming tools and drone technology for crop monitoring to digital marketplaces and supply chain management platforms. The sector has seen consistent investor interest, recognizing its fundamental importance.

Fintech as an Enabler:

Fintech has been a primary driver of tech innovation and investment in Africa for years. The continent’s unique financial landscape, characterized by a large unbanked and underbanked population, has fostered the rapid adoption of mobile money and digital payment solutions. African fintech companies are not just replicating Western models but are creating bespoke solutions tailored to local contexts. When applied to agriculture, fintech platforms like Winich Farms are addressing the core issue of access to capital and transparent transactions, which are essential for farmers to move beyond subsistence and into commercial farming.

Investor Confidence in African Tech:

Despite global economic headwinds, investor confidence in African tech remains robust, particularly in sectors addressing fundamental needs like food and finance. Cross-border investments, like this one between Egypt and Nigeria, signify a maturing ecosystem where investors are comfortable looking beyond their immediate geographic proximity to identify scalable solutions. This trend is crucial for mobilizing the significant capital required to fuel the continent’s digital transformation and unlock its economic potential. The due diligence and market understanding required for such cross-continental deals are becoming more sophisticated, leading to more strategic and impactful partnerships.

Conclusion: A Partnership for Prosperity

The investment by DisrupTech Ventures in Winich Farms is far more than a financial transaction; it is a strategic partnership poised to catalyze significant positive change. For Winich Farms, it provides the capital and, critically, the expert guidance needed to accelerate its growth, deepen its impact in Nigeria, and realize its ambitious pan-African and MENA expansion plans. For DisrupTech Ventures, it marks a successful entry into a dynamic new market, showcasing its commitment to fostering innovation across the continent and tapping into the immense opportunities presented by Africa’s agri-fintech sector.

This collaboration stands as a powerful testament to the transformative power of technology in addressing real-world challenges, particularly in sectors as vital as agriculture. By empowering smallholder farmers with market access and financial tools, Winich Farms is not just building a successful business; it is contributing directly to food security, poverty reduction, and sustainable economic development across Nigeria and, soon, beyond. As Africa continues its digital journey, strategic investments like this will be instrumental in building a more inclusive, efficient, and prosperous future for all.

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Photo source: Google

By: Montel Kamau

Serrari Financial Analyst

18th June, 2025