Chowdeck – 10 Brands to Watch 2025
Chowdeck
Full Name | Chowdeck |
Year of Establishment | October 2021 |
Website | |
Founders / Leadership | Femi Aluko (CEO), Olumide Ojo, Lanre Yusuf |
Core Services | On-demand food, groceries, essentials delivery; quick-commerce via dark stores and hubs; POS & operations software through Mira acquisition |
Cities Covered | 11 cities across Nigeria and Ghana |
Customer Base | 1.5M+ customers; 20,000+ riders |
Delivery Efficiency | Avg. delivery time ~30 minutes; 50%+ bicycle deliveries in dense areas |
Financial Performance | Consistently profitable; 2024 deliveries 6× higher than 2023 |
Funding | Seed: $2.5M (2024); Series A: $9M (Aug 2025) |
Growth Strategy | Dark stores (40 by end-2025, 500 by 2026); quick-commerce expansion; vertical SaaS with Mira POS |
Operational Optimizations | Leaner workforce; improved delivery metrics |
Best Known As | Nigeria’s reliable, locally rooted food and essentials super-app combining delivery, software, and sustainability |
Chowdeck, a homegrown on-demand delivery platform, was launched in October 2021 in Lagos, Nigeria, by co-founders Femi Aluko, Olumide Ojo, and Lanre Yusuf. Born out of a need for reliable, fast food delivery during lockdowns, the startup swiftly positioned itself as a local beacon in the food logistics sector.
Chowdeck’s mission is to become Africa’s premier super-app for food and essentials, delivering meals, groceries, and daily necessities with speed, reliability, and local flavor. By mid-2025, the company had expanded operations to 11 cities across Nigeria and Ghana, serving over 1.5 million customers through a network of more than 20,000 riders. Impressively, average delivery times stand at around 30 minutes, and in densely populated areas, over 50% of deliveries are executed via bicycle, reinforcing speed and sustainability.
Remaining profitable since inception, a rare feat in the cutthroat food delivery market, Chowdeck saw the value of meals delivered in 2024 surpass six times the figure from 2023, and it exceeded that total before mid-2025 already. The company first raised US$2.5 million in seed funding in 2024 from investors including Y Combinator and Paystack co-founders, and in August 2025 secured a US$9 million Series A led by Novastar Ventures, backed by Y Combinator and others to fuel new expansion and quick-commerce rollout.
