Nigerian agro-processing company, Tomato Jos, has raised EUR 3.9 million in its Series A funding round to boost the transition to its next stage of growth — the processing and distribution of tomato products.
Since its inception in 2014, the company has focused on securing its supply chain through primary production.
The funding round was led by Goodwell Investments, via its West Africa partner Alitheia Capital, with participation from Acumen Capital Partners and VestedWorld
Tomato Jos was founded by Mira Mehta with the vision to create and retain local value-add to the tomato value chain, reduce post-harvest losses, and improve the lives of smallholder farmers.
While Nigeria is the second-largest producer of tomatoes on the continent, farming inefficiencies create a demand-supply gap resulting in Nigeria also being one of the biggest importers of tomato paste in the world.
The new funding will be used to install a drip irrigation system and a processing plant that can produce 24 tons of finished product per day. At scale, Tomato Jos will work with thousands of smallholder farmers on over 2,600 hectares of land, putting more than $1M of direct income into the local economy each year.
“Processing has always been the plan for Tomato Jos, but to get there, we spent a long five years working only on farming and primary production to make sure that we had a really solid foundation in place”, commented Mira Mehta, founder and CEO of Tomato Jos, on the investment. “Everyone at the company is extremely excited to take this big step forward into the world of food processing and value-add production!”
By connecting local farmers to domestic consumers, Tomato Jos helps to improve the lives and incomes of smallholder farmers and increase the sustainability and stability of food supply in Nigeria. It directly supports over 70 smallholder farmers across three growing cycles. During this time, smallholder farmers’ average yield has grown by over 340% from 5 to 22 metric tons per hectare, while their average income increased by 455%.
