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Swoop, a food delivery startup founded by 19-year-old Thiel fellow Aubrey Niederhoffer, has raised $7.3 million in Seed funding. The startup, which aims to eventually become a pan-African super app offering food delivery, groceries, and pharmacy services, is also making its first move into Nigeria, beginning in the Yaba neighbourhood of Lagos.
The Seed round was led by Silicon Valley investors, including Long Journey, Variant, Version One, Dune Ventures, Soma Capital, and Zero Knowledge Ventures, with participation from Walter Kortschak and Base Capital. The raise is one of the largest Seed rounds disclosed by an African consumer startup, and Swoop says the capital will go towards building out its consumer platform, starting with food delivery.
The startup, like many others in the delivery business, relies on a network of independent riders rather than employing a dedicated fleet. It generates revenue through commission on restaurant sales and customer handling fees. It says riders retain 100% of delivery fees, while Swoop applies a 7% service charge to fund operations.
According to Fortune, Niederhoffer drew inspiration from Asian super apps like Kaspi and WeChat, which have become the default layer for marketplace services and payments in those markets. The startup is choosing food delivery as the entry vertical to acquire daily customers and build stickiness with the app.
Swoop first launched in Eswatini in August 2025 and acquired 6,000 users in its first month. Ahead of its debut in Yaba, the company rebuilt its codebase with AI tools and released an updated food delivery app. The company plans to use the funding to release a payment app and other services in a bid to create a super app for Africa.
“Super-apps like Kaspi and WeChat seized exactly this opportunity in Asian markets, becoming the default layer for marketplace services, payments, and everyday life. We believe Africa is ready for a super app of its own, and we’re building that at Swoop,” Niederhoffer mentioned in the LinkedIn post announcing the funding.
Nigeria’s food delivery market was valued at $1.1 billion in 2025, and the sector reportedly grew by 187% between 2021 and 2024. Even though the market is already served by the likes of Chowdeck, Glovo, and FoodCourt, Swoop believes the market remains significantly underpenetrated.
Demola Adesina, Swoop’s Nigerian country manager, mentioned in a LinkedIn post, “We just launched food delivery in Lagos. Lagos is one of my favourite consumer markets in the world and we intend to build a fairer experience for our users, riders and merchants here, with the goal of scaling that same experience in other Nigerian(and African) markets. Our riders get 100% of the fees you pay and we only charge users 7% to keep the lights on. We know our riders and merchants need cash to run their operations so we settle them instantly to their wallet.”
Swoop is not the first startup with an ambition to become a super app. Outside China, the likes of Grab and Gojek have succeeded in that endeavour, while WhatsApp and India’s Hike have pivoted, and Tata Neu, Reliance Jio, and ShareChat are still trying to become one. The success of Swoop will depend on its ability to build the food delivery platform and scale beyond Yaba and Lagos, launch new services, and develop a monetisation strategy that ensures profitability.
