Tripesa, a Ugandan tourism-tech firm, has raised a pre-seed round of funding as it evaluates product-market fit before expanding across the continent. The unknown amount of pre-seed capital came from Future Africa, Consonance Investment Managers, and LTNT Investments. Eric Osiakwan is also an angel investor in the startup.
According to Gonahasa, the investment would be utilised to help Tripesa achieve product-market fit.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Tripesa began life as an online travel marketplace called RoundBob, which was forced to close as the tourism industry ground to a halt due to COVID-19. From the ashes, however emerged Tripesa, which is building infrastructure and logistics to help companies in the African tourism and experiences space do business online at a lower cost.
Read also Nigerian Mobility Fintech Startup Moove Launches In Three Of India’s Largest Cities
“With Tripesa, a business will get online, sell online, accept payments and manage basic operations,” said David Gonahasa, who co-founded the startup alongside Thomas Karugaba and Raymond Byaruhanga. “Through the platform as a service solution, businesses can build no-code websites, itineraries, and client proposals, access a multi-currency payment platform to allow them accept digital payments online including cards and mobile money, and lastly manage basic business operations including bookings and marketing. With continuous development a business using Tripesa will be able to run most elements of their business in one place.”
Tripesa earns money through subscriptions, which cost $20 per month or $180 per year.
Tripesa already has over 260 — mostly small — businesses in Uganda and Kenya signed up for the platform, and it is growing on a daily basis, with particular interest in the website construction tool.
Read also Persistent Energy Capital Raises $10M To Expand Its Off-grid Energy Business In Africa
The tourism industry generates US$35 billion in revenue for Africa each year and employs over 24 million people, with operations spanning multiple sub-sectors such as tour operators, travel agencies, tour guides, transportation companies, souvenirs and trinkets, museums, events, F&B, and many others.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh