African eCommerce Round-up #1
A round-up of news, events and investments that have happened in the African eCommerce and retail-tech space - June 1st to 15th, 2021
This is a fortnightly round-up of news, events and investments that have happened in the African eCommerce and retail-tech space. This edition covers June 1st to 15th, 2021.
💰Investments & Exits
🇰🇪 🇹🇿 Marketforce360 acquires Digiduka
Marketforce360 is a SAAS business that is building solutions for last-mile retail distribution. They announced the acquisition of Digiduka, which was building digital payment solutions for retailers. Read the announcement here.
🇰🇪 Skygarden, a B2C product marketplace, announced a Series A of $4M to continue its expansion.
Skygarden is an eCommerce marketplace that's similar to Jumia. Read about the investment here
🇪🇬 B2B marketplace Fatura has closed its $3 million pre-series A.
Fatura is an app that enables grocery retailers to buy products directly from manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers. The distributors then deliver the goods directly to the retailers.
Fatura makes a commission on the sales generated on its platform. As per the announcement, they have 25,000 retailers and collectively 500 manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers on the marketplace. Read the announcement here.
🚀Launches
🇳🇬 Float, the "Stripe Capital" of Africa, launches.
Cash flow is a challenge for businesses worldwide. Lines of credit and overdraft facilities, the usual solutions for this problem, are not an option for most SMEs in Africa; Float wants to solve this.
Similar solutions exist from companies that offer point-of-sale solutions for SMEs such as, Kopokopo and Yoco. However, Float wants to do it via an API rather than via the traditional POS model. This is a natural solution for eCommerce players to extend the facility to their merchants. Check out Float.
📚Reports & Resources
IFC releases Women and eCommerce Africa Report
This report looks at the eCommerce landscape with a focus on women, especially as vendors on Jumia.
The report shares that 50% of the sellers on Jumia in Kenya and Nigeria are women. But, they are concentrated in the fashion category, thus have lower value sales. It also notes that women-owned businesses also experienced a higher drop in sales due to the pandemic—a 39% drop versus 28% for men-owned businesses.
Read the report here.
Google launches training and resources for small retail businesses
As part of the International small business month, Google has announced a dedicated Google for Small Business website for SSA. In addition, there are also 3 free digital skills webinars on offer here.
📢 Announcements
Kenyan executive elected to Jumia's Board
Anne Eriksson, Former Regional Senior Partner at PWC and current board member at KCB and MPesa Foundation, was elected to the board of Jumia AG at their AGM on the 9th of June 2021.
🌎 Other Relevant News Worldwide
Shopify invested $350M in Stripe
WSJ reports that Shopify and other venture capital firms bought $1B worth of shares from Stripe's existing shareholders, including current and former employees. Link🔒
Boxed to go public via SPAC
Boxed financials reflect what I wrote last week(link). Though they have blended their fulfilment costs with other fixed costs, they will not be profitable by relying on commissions. They are launching a SAAS business that they forecast will help them be profitable by the end of FY 2025. Link
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