TripChow Innovative Limited, a food logistics startup headquartered in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding in a round led by Ventures Platform and Founders Factory Africa, with participation from Oui Capital and two angel investors from the Niger Delta region.

The funding will be used to expand the platform from its current two-city operation in Yenagoa and Amassoma to six additional cities across the Niger Delta within 12 months. Target markets include Warri, Asaba, Calabar, Benin City, Eket and Port Harcourt.

A startup from an unlikely place

TripChow's story is notable for defying the conventional wisdom that Nigerian tech startups must originate from Lagos or Abuja to attract serious investment. Founded in 2022 by Onowode Tobore Derick, a computer scientist from the region, the company has grown from a WhatsApp-based ordering system to a full platform serving over 8,000 active customers.

"We built TripChow because we saw that the Niger Delta — with its oil wealth and young population — was completely underserved by the delivery economy," Derick told MG News. "Lagos gets Glovo, Chowdeck and every other delivery app. Our people were ordering by phone call and hoping the food arrived warm. We changed that."

The Niger Delta opportunity

With a combined population of over 31 million people across its nine states, the Niger Delta represents one of Nigeria's most underserved consumer markets for digital services. Smartphone penetration has reached 58% in urban areas, and average disposable income — boosted by oil sector employment — is above the national average.

"We believe the next wave of Nigerian tech innovation will not come from Lagos alone. TripChow is proof that world-class startups can be built anywhere if you solve a real problem." — Kola Aina, Ventures Platform