Nigerian-based startup, Betastore has closed a $2.5 million in pre-series A funding to facilitate its expansion to Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cameroon by the end of this year.
The company secured the fund from 500 Global, VestedWorld, and Loyal VC., and this brought its total fundraising to date to $3 million.
The Betastore marketplace enables informal traders to source fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) directly from manufacturers or distributors – which keeps the prices of the products competitive by eliminating interactions with sales agents. It also works with logistics partners to ensure the delivery of goods within 24 hours.
The B2B e-commerce platform also plans to introduce financing in July, a launch that follows a pilot program involving 200 retailers that the startup carried out last year.
What they are saying
While commenting on the fundraising, the principal at 500 Global, Amit Bhatti, said: “We believe Betastore’s talented team is creating market efficiencies that have the potential to boost the growth of Africa’s retailers. With Betastore, merchants can get greater transparency into wholesaler inventories and price points.”
Betastore CEO, Steve Dakayi-Kamga, who co-founded the startup with Leo-Armel Tchoudjang in mid-2020, said: “What is really important for us is to be able to continue to scale by leveraging our asset-light model. We plan to enter new markets before the end of the year and expand to 100 cities across Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. We are also planning to reinforce our technology and leadership teams, and to bring in new products and to improve existing ones.”
“Our technology enables retailers to order on demand, access a variety of products, and solve logistics headaches for them too. With Betastore, they don’t have to close their shops to go get goods from distributors stores or the market, and do not have to lose close to half of the margins in the logistics,” he added.