South African Lifestyle Hair Ecommerce Startup, Brown and Ayo, Raises $280k From Enygma Ventures
Brown and Ayo, an aspirational lifestyle hair company focused on natural hairstyles and trends for black women in South Africa, has received an R4 million investment from Enygma Ventures. Please, a small introduction with the founder(s) would be fantastic to continue the conversation.
“We are overjoyed about our partnership with Enygma Ventures which provides both financial and strategic support,” Acanda Jaswa, Founder of Brown and Ayo, stated.
“This will allow us to execute on our vision to scale across Africa and globally.”
Why The Investor Invested
“We are super excited about this investment as natural hairstyles and products are a fast-growing trend in an extremely lucrative industry” said Lelemba Phiri, operating partner & principal of Enygma Ventures.
“Brown and Ayo have a proven track record of being steps ahead of the trend, whilst serving a powerfully growing yet often ignored consumer — the black woman.”
Enygma Ventures, is a US-based VC firm founded by award winning entrepreneurs Sarah and Jacob Dusek. Last year, the VC launched a fund with a focus on investing in women entrepreneurs in the SADC region, making its first set of investments in Play Sense and Lupiya recently.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Brown and Ayo has been selling natural hair extensions designed to look like black natural hair textures on their website since 2019. They take delight in offering both contemporary and well-loved products to the black woman in South Africa.
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Jaswa, who is also a Graca Machel Trust — Women Creating Wealth Program graduate, said:
“As a solo black female founder operating outside of traditional technology, my odds for raising significant VC funding were low. It is thus very exciting to be backed by Enygma Ventures and their diverse team that understand this exciting sector and have been extremely valuable in supporting me to think strategically about growing my business”.
Brown and Ayo Africa Brown and Ayo Africa
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