A combined USD 9.5 million investment has been secured by Hatch Africa, a high-impact poultry firm that is quickly expanding and targets underprivileged rural households. AgDevCo and IDH Farmfit Fund have also participated in the financing.
Hatch Africa, a company that distributes dual-purpose day-old chickens to smallholder farmers, has been acquired by Flow Equity Africa Ventures (FEAV).
The investment will expand Hatch’s business model to millions more smallholder farmer households. Hatch chickens are grown faster, lay more eggs, and are more resistant to disease compared to indigenous breeds.
The company operates in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Rwanda under the brands EthioChicken and Uzima Chicken, and in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire under Premier Poultry and Prestige Poultry. In Kenya, the company will adopt the Uzima Chicken brand, which means “full of life” in Swahili.
Co-founder Joseph Shields said, “We couldn’t achieve the scale of impact and commercial progress Hatch Africa is making without the support of committed, long-term investors like AgDevCo and IDH, who understand our markets and can provide flexible financing that suits our needs. We are excited about our next phase of growth, building Hatch Africa into a truly pan-African business.”
AgDevCo’s Managing Director for East Africa, Rebecca Sankar, said, “We are pleased to continue funding Hatch as it grows beyond Ethiopia. This is our third round of investment into the company, in each case supporting greenfield expansion. We look forward to working with the management team to deliver more impact, including higher incomes and improved nutrition for rural households, across East and West Africa.”
“I am proud that the IDH FarmFit Fund provided debt funding to Hatch Africa, for expansion in Kenya, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire. Through its distinctive distribution structure, Hatch Africa ensures access for the rural population to high-quality dual-purpose chickens, where currently only low-yielding, local breeds are accessible. The transformational nature of this business makes this a very exciting investment for the Fund.”, said Mr. Roel Messie, CEO, IDH Investment Management, the manager of the IDH Farmfit Fund.
By 2030, Hatch Africa hopes to increase the number of chickens sold annually from 45 million to 340 million, a six-fold increase in impact. The company’s goal is to reach every farmer in every nation where it conducts business and provide one chicken annually each person.
AgDevCo is a specialist investor in African agriculture, managing USD 280m in sustainable agribusiness. Supported by development finance institutions like BII, Norfund, DFC, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, AgDevCo aims to create a thriving commercial agriculture sector that benefits both people and the planet by investing in and supporting agribusinesses to grow, create jobs, produce and process food, and link farmers to markets.
The IDH Farmfit Fund is a Euro 100m public-private impact fund for smallholder farmers, many of whom are among the poorest people in the world.
It takes on high-risk positions in farmer-related investment transactions, reducing liabilities for borrowers and lenders. The fund provides long-term financing for farmers to invest in their farms, increase productivity, and adopt climate-smart agriculture practices.