• Bolt, Glovo, Chowdeck expand fast, all relying on automated order updates via messaging APIs.
• WhatsApp has strong position with 80%+ reach; Meta charges per message, routed through BSPs like Beem, Infobip.
• API use remains hidden; regulators eye metadata, but every new order drives traffic and rising costs.

Bolt Market launched in Kenya in December 2024 and says grocery orders have grown more than 300 % in the first six months. Glovo remains active in 23 countries, including Ghana and Nigeria. Two-year-old Nigerian platform Chowdeck, backed by Y Combinator and Novastar Ventures, reports 1.5 million registered customers and claims it reached profitability in 2024. Gozem Food operates in Benin and Togo, while Yango Delivery is live in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana.

What these companies share is a dependence on automated messages: order confirmations, delivery-time updates, failed-delivery alerts and customer-support prompts. Most are sent through Business Messaging APIs – standardised interfaces that let software trigger messages on SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram or other channels.

WhatsApp’s reach is hard to ignore. Consistent reports show the app is installed on more than 80 % of smartphones in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon, Tanzania and Egypt. Meta’s published price list confirms that every template message sent through the WhatsApp Business API incurs a fee – for example, USD 0.0088 in Nigeria or USD 0.0517 in South Africa as of July 2025.

Because building a direct connection to WhatsApp requires compliance audits, most African start-ups contract with Business Solution Providers (BSPs) such as Beem, Infobip or Silver Mouse. These intermediaries handle technical integration and pass the per-message cost – plus their own margin – on to the delivery company.

Bolt Market, Glovo and Chowdeck have not disclosed which messaging channels they use or in what volumes. Support pages mention SMS, push notifications and in-app chat, but not WhatsApp Business API, and no BSP has named them as clients. Infobip cites Glovo in Europe and the Middle East — but not in Africa — underscoring how little is known about the platforms’ messaging rails.

Regulators have begun to examine data flows. Kenya’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission have both issued guidance reminding companies that metadata (timestamps, delivery status, device IDs) collected through messaging APIs must be handled in line with local privacy laws. Neither regulator has yet published findings specific to grocery-delivery services.

What is certain is that every additional order in the sector generates more API traffic. Whether those messages move over WhatsApp, SMS or another channel, the volume – and the associated cost – grows in step with the continent’s last-mile expansion.

Idriss Linge