‘Nigeria’s DoorDash’, Jise raises $100k pre-seed funding, launches food delivery in Lagos

Demand for food and groceries delivery services witnessed an exponential increase around the world following the Covid-19 outbreak of 2020. Indeed, the global online food delivery services market is expected to grow from $115.07 billion in 2020 to $126.91 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3%.

This is even more so in Nigeria where a scarcity of logistics services focused only on food delivery has driven consumers to demand better food delivery services.

To this end, a Nigerian food delivery startup, Jise has launched its food-only delivery platform in Lagos. Its focus is on providing fast and affordable food delivery services across the country, starting with Lagos. 

This is coming on the heels of a $100,000 pre-seed funding obtained from Nigeria’s Backroom Capital and Ireland’s Winston Capital. A number of angel investors including the Co-Founder of Treepz, Jonny Enagwolor, also took part in the funding.

Speaking on the funding, Investor at Winston Capital, Leonard Lynch said he’s excited to be a part of the startup’s journey as Jise presents an opportunity to invest in a great team.

“At Winston Capital, we are always looking for the best teams to invest in and at Jise, we see it as a great opportunity to invest in a great team. We are delighted to continue to support the start-up ecosystem in Nigeria with our second investment on the continent. We are excited to be part of their journey,” Leonard Lynch said.

Nigeria’s Doordash

Jise, coined from a Yoruba word that means to run an errand, is led by 4 co-founders. They include Marvelous Gbenro who is the company’s CEO, Tokurah Majid the VP of Growth & Operations, Ibukun Olasupo who serves as VP of Customer Engagement, and Jeremy Osazuwa Agbonze who is the VP of Technology.

Described by an investor as the “Doordash of Nigeria“, the service was established to solve the problem of unfulfilled or late food deliveries, which then leads to disappointment. The startup believes this threat to brand integrity for local restaurants is caused by delivery companies that are not focused on only one vertical; food.

Jise is, therefore, building a shared logistics platform that enables restaurants to effectively deliver their meals in the fastest possible time. It achieves this by leveraging clusters of independent delivery personnel, while simultaneously enabling growth for restaurants via a connected marketplace in what is an integrated solution.

The startup says it wants to be a game-changer in the food delivery sector by providing an effective food ordering and food delivery platform that handles delivery and takeout from the best local restaurants at very affordable costs to its consumers.

The food delivery company hopes to deliver meals within 25 minutes after order. It says it has onboarded more than 40 restaurant menus on its platform within the Lekki axis of Lagos and plans to onboard even more with time.

It also plans to gradually expand its community-based model starting with bicycle runners across Lagos in preparation for the holiday season. 

The Jise food mobile application is now available for download on the IOS and Google Playstore. The app currently delivers food anywhere across Lagos.