This archive report was first published on 31 October 2019.
On October 31, 2019, Wefarm, a Nairobi and London-based startup, announced it had raised $13 million in a Series A financing round to scale its network of 1.9 million farmers in Africa and beyond.
The funding round was led by Silicon Valley's True Ventures, with participation from AgFunder and June Fund, among others.
Founded in 2015, Wefarm aims to build a global ecosystem for small-scale agriculture, with plans to reach over a billion people directly involved in small-scale farming.
Wefarm's Marketplace allows farmers to easily access quality products and services, such as seeds, fertilizers, and other non-agricultural items from trusted retailers and brands.
Wefarm CEO and Founder Kenny Ewan believes the platform's Marketplace will grow into an expansive ecosystem for smallholder farmers.
“If we can inspire 100 million farmers to work together on one platform, we can fundamentally shift global agriculture and trade in their favour, and this round of funding will take us even closer to bringing this vision for improved farm yields into fruition,” said Ewan.
Wefarm intends to use its technology to help close the yield gap, which is partly due to the use of fake or faulty agricultural products. The firm reports that its Marketplace sales are growing at more than 40% month on month and aims to diversify into supporting farmers with both financing and delivery.
