In a move set to reshape Africa’s food technology landscape, Nigeria’s food delivery platform, Chowdeck, has acquired Mira, a fast-growing point-of-sale (POS) startup. This strategic acquisition signifies Chowdeck’s transition from a pure delivery service to a comprehensive provider of merchant operations technology, aiming to become the operational backbone for food businesses in Nigeria, and across the African continent.
Founded in October 2021, Chowdeck has quickly established itself as a dominant force in Nigeria’s on-demand delivery sector. The company boasts over 1.5 million users and more than 20,000 active riders operating in 11 cities across Nigeria and in Ghana’s capital, Accra. In 2024 alone, Chowdeck was reported to have accounted for over ₦30 billion in deliveries, which means the delivery company maintained an average delivery time of under 30 minutes.
With this record, it means the company is doing quite well considering the industry it finds itself in, which also means its acquisition of Mira is a deliberate shift in Chowdeck’s business model. While the company has traditionally focused on the customer side of food delivery, it is now turning its attention to the needs of restaurants, supermarkets, and pharmacies.
“For a long time, we’ve focused more on the customer side than on the restaurant, supermarket, and pharmacy side,” Chowdeck’s CEO Femi Aluko explained. “But as we begin to expand, we’re paying deeper attention to the vendor side.”
Mira, founded in 2023 by Ted Oladele, a former Vice President of Design at Flutterwave, offers a robust restaurant management platform. The company’s technology bridges the gap between customer-facing operations and backend management by providing tools and services that help restaurants. These services range from tracking and managing inventory, monitoring sales and accessing analytics, and optimizing overall kitchen performance. With these services priced at ₦360,000, the company says they serve over 500 hospitality businesses in Nigeria.
As such, Chowdeck’s acquisition of Mira is a classic example of Vertical Integration, where businesses take control of almost every stage of their supply chains. For Chowdeck, instead of simply diversifying, they are now able to control more of the supply chain, from order fulfillment to backend restaurant operations.
Previously, Chowdeck’s business-facing tools were limited to delivery logistics. But with the acquisition of Mira and its integration into Chowdeck’s platform, they can now offer inventory management, sales tracking, and customer engagement solutions to its restaurant partners.
The timing of the move is important as Glovo, another Delivery-as-a-Service (DaaS) company, continues to expand their presence in Nigeria and in Africa. Chowdeck’s new strategy could provide a crucial competitive edge by deepening relationships with vendors in the hospitality field.
Africa’s hospitality sector faces persistent challenges, especially inventory mismanagement and supply chain disruptions that both reduce profitability. In fact, studies in Nigeria have shown a direct link between poor inventory management and reduced profits which, in turn, spotlight the need for advanced operational tools.
By combining Chowdeck’s delivery infrastructure with Mira’s software, the integrated platform can then offer restaurants real-time inventory visibility, by reducing stockouts and waste while simultaneously improving efficiency. According to Mira’s blog post, they explain that some services will soon be unlocked with Chowdeck’s logistics and scale. Some of these services include, “seamless order-to-delivery workflows, more affordable last-mile delivery options for customers, and integrated solutions for both online and physical store operations.”
“We are building the first true end-to-end commerce infrastructure for food and hospitality businesses in Africa, from kitchen to checkout to doorstep,” Mira said.
According to Chowdeck, for them, this means they will “provide more operational support, not just delivery logistics; help food businesses scale efficiently and sustainably; build tools that are as smart as they are easy to use; and continue raising the bar for speed, service and reliability.”
With the addition of these new services, Chowdeck is now positioned as a full-stack technology partner for food businesses, rather than just a delivery service.
“With the Mira team’s product expertise and our logistics backbone, we’re doubling down on helping Africa’s food sector thrive – whether that’s in a bustling city or a growing township,” Chowdeck said.
If this integration is successful, Chowdeck’s vertical integration strategy could set a new standard for African tech companies, where local players can now build comprehensive ecosystems that can serve multiple stakeholders across different industries and value chains.
