In a rare but telling cross-border investment move in Africa’s tech ecosystem, Cairo-based DisrupTech Ventures has made its first foray outside Egypt — backing Lagos-headquartered Winich Farms, a fast-rising Nigerian agritech startup. The deal is part of Winich Farms’ $3 million pre-Series A round, joining a growing list of investors looking to bet on Africa’s intersection of fintech and agriculture.
For DisrupTech Ventures — best known for its focus on early-stage Egyptian fintechs — the investment marks a strategic pivot toward regional diversification. “Our investment in Winich reflects our strong belief in the growth opportunities in Nigeria’s agtech and fintech sectors,” said Mohamed Okasha, Founding Partner at DisrupTech. “Agriculture is also a cornerstone of the Egyptian economy, and we look forward to exchanging expertise and best practices between the two markets as Winich expands across the continent.”
Founded in 2020 by brothers Riches and Winner Attai, alongside Chichebem Jibunoh, Winich Farms has been building infrastructure to connect smallholder farmers to Nigeria’s fragmented supply chains and the wider financial ecosystem. Agriculture makes up 21% of Nigeria’s GDP and supports millions of livelihoods — yet over 80% of its smallholder farmers remain excluded from formal finance and modern market linkages.
Winich’s approach is deceptively simple: a tech-enabled agent model that aggregates smallholder supply and links it directly to buyers via a mobile platform. Today, the startup operates in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states and claims a network of over 180,000 farmers and 4,000 agents. Its platform processes around ₦3.7 billion ($2.2 million) in monthly order volume, with a gross merchandise value (GMV) that has tripled since 2022 to $30 million.
When a retailer places an order — say, for 50kg of rice — local Winich agents bid to fulfill it by pooling produce from farmers in their vicinity. This model cuts down delivery times and sidesteps the traditional middlemen who often erode farmer profits. Still, bottlenecks remain. Many farmers are concentrated in Nigeria’s northern states, which poses logistical headaches for deliveries to distant markets like Lagos.
To tackle this, Winich is now using a $590,000 debt facility from Sahel Capital to set up regional fulfillment hubs across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones — distribution centers that aim to slash delivery times and increase operational scale.
While Winich started in logistics and aggregation, it has steadily grown into a fintech hybrid. Its Winich Cards digitize transactions and create a transaction history for farmers — data that can later be used to secure credit. In collaboration with Sterling Bank and Verve, the company has rolled out financial products to underbanked rural farmers. A target of 195,000 cardholders is in the pipeline.
In parallel, Winich Farms has recently partnered with Kebbi Agricultural Research Development Agency (KARDA) to provide agronomic support and has begun issuing credit to farmers who complete three or more successful delivery cycles. The fintech layer is where investors like DisrupTech see long-term upside.
“We’re excited to have DisrupTech onboard,” said CEO Riches Attai. “Their expertise in scaling fintech startups will be invaluable as we grow across Africa. Our vision is to build a more efficient and inclusive supply chain, starting in Nigeria but extending to global markets.”
DisrupTech’s investment adds a new dynamic to Winich’s already diverse investor cap table. The pre-Series A round is led by Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF), with participation from Climate Resilient Africa Fund, Marula Square, Plug and Play Tech Center, and Tekedia Capital. Together, the backers represent a mix of climate, impact, fintech, and seed-stage interests — a reflection of Winich’s cross-sector appeal.
Tamer El-Raghy, Managing Director of ARAF, said the fund’s participation aligns with its mission to grow local agribusinesses that support farmer productivity and food security. “Winich offers a practical solution to food system inefficiencies, which is more important than ever given climate volatility and inflationary pressures.”
The startup’s expansion comes at a time of intensifying economic headwinds in Nigeria. Inflation in agricultural input costs, interest rate hikes, and a volatile naira have hit smallholder productivity and undermined traditional supply chains. For Winich, the crisis presents both a challenge and a market opportunity.
The DisrupTech deal is emblematic of a broader shift in Africa’s venture landscape. Egyptian VCs are increasingly looking beyond North Africa in search of market depth. At the same time, Nigeria’s agritech scene is gaining visibility among fintech-minded investors — especially those who view agricultural logistics as a wedge into embedded financial services.
For DisrupTech, it’s also a bet on Nigeria’s larger demographic and economic heft. “We see replicable models here that can be adapted back into Egypt and elsewhere in the region,” said Okasha.
Winich, for its part, isn’t stopping at Nigeria. The company has disclosed plans to explore expansion into other African markets and export-focused partnerships in the MENA region — leveraging growing demand for traceable, tech-enabled agricultural supply chains.
Still, scaling won’t be frictionless. The sector remains plagued by infrastructure gaps and policy inertia. Government interest in agritech innovation is frequently voiced but rarely matched with tangible action. That leaves startups like Winich shouldering the burden of modernizing agriculture — largely with private capital and entrepreneur-led grit.
Whether Winich can sustain its growth, leapfrog logistical hurdles, and embed financial inclusion at scale will depend on execution in the coming quarters. But if early signs hold, DisrupTech’s debut outside Egypt may just be a blueprint for the next phase of intra-African venture activity.