Chowdeck's USD 9 M Series A Came After 6 Months Of 200+ Investor Rejections

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Chowdeck’s USD 9 M Series A Came After 6 Months Of 200+ Investor Rejections

Chowdeck, a Lagos-born on-demand delivery startup, announced a USD 9 M Series A on Monday; a raise that, by the CEO’s account, arrived after a bruising stretch.

“I spoke to 200+ investors before we got one ‘Yes’ … At one point, I stopped fundraising altogether and focused on building a profitable company,” CEO Femi Aluko told staff in a Slack message he subsequently shared publicly. The round was led by Novastar Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and a mix of regional and international funds.

That story—rejections, a pivot to profit focus, then investor appetite—is increasingly common among African startups that have had to prove unit economics before capital would follow. Chowdeck says it hit profitability prior to the Series A, a claim both the company and multiple outlets have echoed as part of the explanation for why VCs returned after months of “no.” The startup’s path shows how traction and sustainable metrics are currently the clearest route to growth capital in the region.

Founded in October 2021 by Aluko alongside Olumide Ojo (CTO) and Lanre Yusuf (COO), Chowdeck has scaled quickly from a neighbourhood food delivery service to a multi-city operator. The startup boasts operations in roughly 11 cities across Nigeria and Ghana and serving more than one million customers through a network of thousands of riders. That footprint, and reported average delivery times under 30 minutes in dense areas, are central to the startup’s pitch to investors: a logistics stack tuned for speed in African urban centres.

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Chowdeck’s immediate focus after the round is expansion of “quick commerce” — faster grocery and neighborhood market deliveries — largely by building a network of fulfilment hubs or dark stores.

CEO Aluko told media the company plans to open dozens of dark stores by year-end and scale to hundreds in the next 12-18 months to bring down delivery times and increase order density. Those moves mirror a regional trend where food-delivery businesses are betting on quick commerce and micro-fulfilment to lift order frequency and margins. DabafinanceBusiness Insider Africa

Given the razor-thin economics typical of on-demand delivery, Chowdeck’s emphasis on profitability is a notable distinction. The company claims it had reached profitability before its Series A, a key bargaining chip in a market where investor scepticism about unit economics has led to tougher scrutiny than in 2021–22. Whether Chowdeck can preserve margins while building dark stores at scale will be a central test.

Investors point to several factors that likely sold the round, including local market knowledge, operational improvements (routing and rider efficiency), recent traction since the 2024 seed raise, and the startup’s ability to convert restaurant partnerships into repeat customer behaviour. Also, its recent acquisition of Mira, a startup offering point-of-sale and business management software for food and hospitality businesses, expands possibilities.

Novastar’s lead role signals continued appetite among growth funds for African logistics plays that can demonstrate both reach and unit economics. Still, the field is crowded and competitive as established incumbents and new entrants all jockey for market share in quick commerce and food delivery, a space where scale and execution speed matter.

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Inside Chowdeck, Aluko’s Slack message captured the emotional arc behind the numbers: hard work, repeated rejection, a decision to halt fundraising and double down on product, and then validation when term sheets reappeared.

“This was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I have ever done… Many investors barely gave us a chance: ‘Nigeria is hard.’ ‘Logistics is tough.’ I spoke to 200+ investors before we got one ‘Yes’,” the CEO wrote.

He framed the raise not as an endpoint but the opening of a new chapter: “This is no longer Day 0. We are officially on Day 1.”

Short term, Chowdeck will be tested on the execution of its dark store roll-outs, rider density, and whether it can hit profitability targets in newly entered cities quickly. The broader sector will watch for unit economics as the defining signal.

If Chowdeck can keep acquisition and fulfilment costs down while lifting frequency through quick commerce, it will have a clearer shot at regional scale. If not, the company will face the same pressure that has unseated other delivery players who expanded too fast without sustainable margins.

Nevertheless, the raise signals that capital, when coupled with demonstrable economics and product execution, is still available for African startups tackling complex logistics. Chowdeck’s next 12 months will test whether the company’s pitch (speed, profitability & local density) translates into lasting advantage in a competitive field.