Shamba Pride, a Nairobi-based one-stop online-to-offline network that connects smallholder farmers to quality inputs, services, and information via technology-enabled DigiShops owned by women and youth, has raised $1.1 million in funding.
Seedstars Africa Ventures and Gray Matters Capital were the lead investors in the round.
The funds will be used to boost the startup’s nationwide expansion and roll-out of its digital solution to over 1,000 digitalized stores, according to the company. Hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers will be able to raise their income and productivity as a result of increasing access to better quality inputs, education, financial services, and market connections.
“Shamba Pride is revolutionizing rural distribution systems for African farmers by transforming from traditional and informal systems to modern trade. Through Shamba Pride, existing last-mile agro entrepreneurs are able to digitalize their operations and provide smallholder farmers with right and affordable technology, quality products and services. The model establishes a network of smart micro-entrepreneurs serving the smallholder farmer community, allowing farmers to increase their farm productivity, sustain their employment and their household income,” said CEO and Founder Samuel Munguti.
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“We are excited to have Seedstars Africa Ventures and Gray Matters Capital join the Shamba Pride family. Our momentum to revolutionize last mile distribution systems for African farmers has gained new momentum. The investment will propel our national growth to service hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers while creating a reliable community of smart micro-entrepreneurs offering improved services to farmers,” added Munguti.
Why The Investors Invested
“Talented African early stage entrepreneurs continue to lack funding despite providing tangible adapted solutions. We are convinced Shamba Pride’s online-to-offline model is perfectly suited to tap into a huge market opportunity by upskilling existing value chains and finally offering farmers the quality counterparts they deserve. Beyond capital, we will continue to actively support the company through additional market linkages and corporate partnerships within Africa and beyond to guarantee farmers obtain the best value,” Maxime Bouan, Partner at Seedstars Africa Ventures said.
The deal was sealed in the presence of Kenyan Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina and French Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade.
Gray Matters Capital, a United States based impact investor, has actively been investing in Kenyan agritech startups. In 2019, it invested in the country’s B2B agri-tech startup Taimba. That same year, Farmshine, another Kenyan agritech, raised $250,000 from the venture capital firm’s gender lens agnostic portfolio known as GMC coLABS. Other African startups that have benefitted from its funding include Rwanda’s ARED, Ghana’s Redbird Health Tech and Nigeria’s Sonocare. Last year, the investor invited for-profit startups in Africa with solutions targeting women and girls to apply to coLABS, a gender-lens investment portfolio it launched.
Seedstars Africa Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund investing in high-growth companies active across Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Capitalizing on Seedstars’ pioneering presence in African entrepreneurship ecosystems since 2012, Seedstars Africa Ventures hopes to bring smart capital for entrepreneurs and provide them access to pan-African and international support.
The venture capital firm recently secured a commitment from LBO, a French private equity firm for a $100m funding in early-stage African tech startups.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Founded in 2016 by Samuel Munguti, Shamba Pride (previously Farmers Pride) provides a one-stop B2B DigiShop franchise marketplace to help village-level informal agro-dealer outlets and cooperatives automate their operations.
The company provides a supply chain solution to local farmers that ensures high-quality supplies, information, and services, resulting in higher agricultural production. Its DigiShop platform enables village-level farmers to gain access to trusted and credible information, inputs, and services that will help them succeed in their farming endeavors.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer