Ghanaian start-up FreezeLink distributes food and medicine for ‘The Next Billion’ using cold chain technologies and has built a serious customer list since seeing growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Created in 2018 by Owusu Akoto, FreezeLink stores and transports chilled food and medicine for customers and wholesales perishable food, with which it uses its cold chain to remove food products from food producers and distribute them to retailers across the country.
It does this, with a team of engineers focused on building cold chains where none exist, using IoT and solar solutions.
“The gap in the market is the absence of unbroken cold chains – storage, transportation and engineers to maintain both – that connect farms and factories to local and global end consumers,” said Akoto.
Since its launch, FreezeLink has grown its customer base by 300 percent, with customers including Unilever, General Mills, Walmart-owned retailer Game and farmers – which FreezeLink connects to local and global markets. The startup has so far signed contracts to deliver work in three countries – Ghana, Togo and Benin.
“In Benin we are contracting, as part of a project funded by the World Bank, to build the fruit and vegetable export terminal at Cotonou International Airport, which will connect local farmers to global markets through the cold chain,” he said Akoto. “We plan to expand into every major market in West Africa by the end of next year and be in every sub-Saharan country north of South Africa within the next 7-10 years.”
Self-funded so far, FreezeLink has just received IC approval from a lead investor for its first institutional round. The startup makes money through pay-per-use on its storage and transportation offerings, while the wholesale side is paid a percentage of the suggested retail price. It also leases or sells its own solar-powered, IoT-equipped modular cold storage equipment.