Tappi, a Kenyan e-commerce startup, has been selected to participate in the latest accelerator program offered by Orbit Startups. This program provides Tappi with $180,000 in funding and access to a comprehensive support system aimed at facilitating the company’s growth and fundraising efforts beyond the demo day. Orbit Startups operates under the umbrella of SOSV, a global venture capital firm managing $1.5 billion in assets, and focuses on scaling promising startups from various regions, including Southeast and South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. The program specifically targets emerging and frontier markets.
The latest edition of the program has chosen nine startups from different parts of the world, with Tappi being among them. Tappi offers a full-stack social commerce solution that allows small businesses to establish an online storefront in under two minutes. The startup, founded by Kenfield Griffith, distributes its app for free through mobile operators and has experienced impressive growth, boasting a network of over 20 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and a monthly growth rate of 21%.
The selected cohort of startups recently presented their pitches exclusively to investors. These startups focused on transforming climate tech, healthcare, mobility, and economic inclusion. The group consists of ventures from India, the United States, Colombia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Thailand. Here are the startups included:
Read also : WhatsApp Business Records Huge Growth in Number of Users
- Goka: A US-based company that helps brands and creators compete and increase loyalty through real-world-friendly Web3 assets and custom marketing solutions.
- Muta: A Colombia-headquartered tech-enhanced recycling company for waste management in Latin America.
- MySyara: A car repair and maintenance platform from the United Arab Emirates.
- Tato: An India-based social network platform that protects the privacy of users.
- TradeTogether: A Singaporean company that provides digital asset management solutions on Web3.
- Yindii: A Thailand-based startup that aims to reduce food waste and boost restaurant profits by selling unsold food.
- Zoth: An Indian firm looking to bridge the gap between borrowers from emerging markets with crypto lenders.
William Bao Bean, the General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director at Orbit Startups, expressed enthusiasm for the potential of technology to drive substantial changes in economies worldwide, particularly in emerging and frontier markets. He praised the group of entrepreneurs in the program for their transformative work in areas such as climate tech, healthcare, mobility, and economic inclusion.
Tappi Orbit Startups
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