Yebo Fresh, a South African ecommerce business, has announced that it has received a R78 million ($4.5 million) pre-Series A equity investment and a Jobs Fund grant.
The additional money will enable Yebo Fresh to expand further, drastically improve its physical and system infrastructure, and attract fresh talent.
“This funding will allow us to grow into new product categories and market segments, expand our systems and warehousing infrastructure, and explore further partnership opportunities with strategic players in the market. It will also assist us in gathering even more data insights, further strengthening our unique position in this massive market segment,” said Jessica Boonstra, Yebo Fresh CEO.
Enza Capital led the pre-Series A investment. Additional re-investments were also secured from current investors, including Yebo Fresh’s largest investor, E4EAfrica.
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“We are thrilled to back the exceptional Yebo Fresh team. They are fundamentally changing the way essential goods are provided to the township market, an underserved but vibrant and growing segment of the South African economy,” said John Lazar, general partner at Enza Capital.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Jessica Boonstra founded Yebo Fresh in 2018 to make it easier for small businesses to buy groceries and other necessities. Orders are placed via WhatsApp or through the Yebo Fresh network of field sales representatives, resulting in a quicker purchase process, according to the company. Yebo Fresh uses a dark store-based fulfilment approach to deliver orders within 24 hours, reducing the cost and trouble of shopping trips to wholesalers.
Furthermore, the startup provides a buy-now-pay-later option. This procedure is directed by customer data and algorithms, and it allows informal firms that do not currently have access to formal financing to participate.
The startup claims to be the only player exclusively focused on the township market, successfully working with a rapidly growing network of Spaza shops, prepared food outlets, and other township businesses, providing investors, suppliers, and partners with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to tap into South Africa’s multibillion-dollar township market.
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