ThriveAgric, the Nigerian agritech startup backed by the Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, has raised ₦5.3 billion ($3.93 million) in the first series of a commercial paper programme that could eventually reach ₦50 billion ($37.09 million), extending a debt-heavy funding strategy that chief executive officer Uka Eje says is better suited to the company's operations.

The Series 1 issuance was announced on Tuesday during a signing ceremony and media briefing with journalists in Lagos, Nigeria. The offering was oversubscribed, drawing institutional demand above its initial ₦5 billion ($3.7 million) target, the company said.

The transaction marks ThriveAgric's first foray into Nigeria's debt capital markets and opens a funding channel beyond bank lending for a company whose core challenge has long been access to the right kind of capital. Commercial paper — the instrument the programme is built on — is a short-term, typically unsecured debt security that companies issue directly to institutional investors to cover working-capital needs, usually maturing in under a year. ThriveAgric's ₦50 billion programme was approved by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ahead of the issuance.

"Securing [Nigerian] SEC approval for our ₦50 billion CP [commercial paper] programme and completing this oversubscribed ₦5 billion Series 1 raise validates our disciplined approach to corporate governance and capital management," Eje said. "Beyond the numbers, this institutional backing provides us with the financial flexibility to scale our operations, deepen our outgrower networks, and ensure prompt off-take for smallholder farmers."

What the debt will fund

The commercial paper will not fund agricultural production, which can take nine to 12 months, Eje said. Instead, it will provide working capital for ThriveAgric to buy produce from smallholder farmers through its network, aggregate the commodities, and supply them to off-takers, including food processors and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. The faster turnover of those transactions makes this type of debt a better fit for the business.

ThriveAgric finances farmers to produce crops and then connects their harvests to buyers. A farmer who receives financing for inputs can use part of the harvest to repay the loan and sell the remainder as surplus. ThriveAgric collects and aggregates the produce through its network before selling it to buyers. The new commercial paper will fund this side of the business — providing the capital needed to buy produce from farmers and supply it to off-takers — while giving farmers a ready market for their crops, a gap Eje said remains a major problem for many smallholder farmers.

He noted that agriculture becomes more scalable when financing is available and sustainable, adding that the company secured the debt at a rate that was "more conducive" to the sector.

Debt is central to ThriveAgric's model. The company needs large, recurring pools of capital to keep money moving between farmers, commodity purchases, and established buyers. Coming to the capital market also broadens its pool of lenders beyond banks to investment houses and asset managers, and the full ₦50 billion ($37.09 million) programme could give the company considerably more of that firepower. Eje said ThriveAgric expects to make further commercial paper issuances as it works to complete the raise over the next 12 months.

"This is why it's not equity; it is debt to expand our business in Nigeria," Eje said. "Coming to the capital markets like this gives [an] opportunity for cheaper debt that is conducive, I think, for the sector, or I would rather say more conducive for the sector. The reason why we're taking this step is because financing can be attractive. Agriculture is scalable when financing is attractive, and it's a lot more sustainable."

According to the company, proceeds from the debt raise will help scale agricultural trading across ThriveAgric's operating hubs.

From $56.4 million to the capital market

The deal follows ThriveAgric's $56.4 million debt funding in 2022 from local commercial banks and institutional investors, including a $1.75 million co-investment grant from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub. At the time, the company said it would expand its farmer base and enter Ghana, Zambia, and Kenya.

ThriveAgric now has a presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, according to Eje, although Nigeria still accounts for about 90% of its business. Its expansion into other markets has been largely stakeholder-led, with input providers and financiers it was already working with in Nigeria helping to facilitate conversations in countries where they also operate.

The new funding, however, is not for geographic expansion. Eje said the company's priority is deepening its business in Nigeria, where it sees room to scale aggregation, trading, and financing.

"The initial problem we've always faced has been accessing the right capital; that's why today is important to us," Eje said. "We see this as a major landmark because we've been able to access the capital that will help us unlock the opportunities in the sector. But it also comes with responsibility because the market is reactive to the extent that payments happen and the business grows. This is why we are very bullish."

In 2024, ThriveAgric was named to the Financial Times' ranking of Africa's fastest-growing companies. The company's revenue reached $73.26 million in 2022, up from $8.1 million in 2019 — a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 120% at the time. Eje did not disclose current revenue.

The issuing houses

Anchoria Advisory Services, a Nigerian financial advisory firm, was the lead issuing house on the commercial paper. An issuing house is the financial adviser and arranger that helps a company package a debt security, structure the transaction, coordinate the issuance, and connect it with investors.

The transaction's issuing houses also included BAS Capital, Mulberry, FCMB Capital Markets and FCSL. BAS Capital is part of BAS Group, which acquired asset-backed lending fintech Zuvy in June 2025.

"Our role was to package a business with real operational depth into a bankable, well-governed capital markets instrument — and the market's response validates that work," said Damilola Titiladunayo, managing director of Anchoria.

For ThriveAgric, the next test is whether that confidence can keep lowering the cost of capital as it returns to the market. If Eje's thesis holds, cheaper and more appropriately structured debt could do more than fund ThriveAgric's growth: it could keep financing flowing through millions of small farms and, eventually, give those farmers a credit history strong enough to borrow directly.

Building the rails between farmers and buyers

Founded in 2017 by Uka Eje and Ayodeji Arikawe, ThriveAgric has built its business around connecting smallholder farmers to financing and markets. According to Crunchbase, the company has raised about $61.3 million in total funding.

The company now serves more than 1.3 million smallholder farmers across 26 Nigerian states and works with about 5,000 field agents, according to Eje. Many of those agents come from farming communities, cooperatives, farmer organisations, and other small clusters of producers.

They are onboarded through ThriveAgric's Agricultural Operating System (AOS), which captures data on farmers and their activities. The technology is used across the farming cycle, from onboarding and farm data collection to input distribution, field monitoring, and inventory management.

According to Eje, the company is building the data layer that could allow farmers to access credit directly from financial institutions in its network. Transaction history, farm activity, and other business metrics could provide alternative data to help financiers assess borrowers, underwrite loans, and make credit decisions.

The latest raise is focused on Nigeria, and on a problem ThriveAgric has been tackling for years: aggregation. If it works as planned, it could create a financing loop for the business: farmers get capital and a clearer route to market, while the company gets a more reliable supply of commodities. Processors and FMCG companies, in turn, get access to feedstock and raw materials — a model in which each part of the business strengthens the next.