Joanna Bichsel - Afrikan Heroes

African Healthtech Kasha Raises $21-Million in Funding

July 24, 2023

Africa-focused health-technology company,Kasha, has raised more than US$21-million in a series-B funding round led by Cape Town’s Knife Capital. Other participants in the funding round were FinnFund, DFC, Altree Capital, Tim Koogle and Pam Scott, Beyond Capital Ventures, Bamboo Capital’s Bloc Smart Africa Fund, Five35 Ventures, and other new and existing investors.

“With series-B funding, Kasha is scaling its operations into South and West Africa to be Africa’s leading digital health access platform,” Knife Capital said in a statement on Monday.

Kasha recently started operating in South Africa after establishing a base in Rwanda and Kenya

Kasha is a “digital retail and last-mile distribution platform for pharmaceuticals and fast-moving consumer goods serving consumers, resellers, pharmacies, hospitals and clinics”.

The company was founded in Rwanda in 2016 and is aimed mainly at women, who it said are the most influential segment for health products and household goods.

“In Africa, women are the decision makers on 80% of household purchases, and 60% of small shop owners are women,” it said.

Kasha recently started operating in South Africa after establishing a base in Rwanda and Kenya. It plans to open operations in West Africa later this year. It will also use the latest funding round to invest in its platform and offer enterprise services.

“The exponential revenue growth we’ve experienced over the last several years was driven by the high market demand for quality, affordable health products and household goods from mass market customers in urban and rural areas of East Africa, and this has proven out our business model and our team’s ability to execute,” said Kasha founder and CEO Joanna Bichsel in the statement.

“We will be using the funds from series B to expand across Africa and invest in strategic areas of the business to further continue our high-growth trajectory,” Bichsel said.

“In the current economic climate, it is refreshing to come across such a high-growth capital efficient business that is female-led and optimised to serve the large mass market segment in Africa, being especially strong at serving women customers,” said Knife Capital founding partner Keet van Zyl.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

East Africa’s Retailer Kasha Global Raises Fresh Funding From Beyond Capital Ventures

March 4, 2022

Beyond Capital Ventures, a new women-led impact venture capital business, is thrilled to announce its second investment: Kasha Global, East Africa’s premier femtech retailer for high-quality, affordable health and personal care items. With a $300,000 investment, Beyond Capital Ventures is heading Kasha’s Series A2 Bridge fundraising round.

“The truth is, women are very influential customers in consumer products, health and family related household purchases. But when you look at how tech solutions are traditionally built, they are usually built by men for men. The largest customer base in health and personal care, which is women, is massively underserved,” says CEO Joanna Bichsel. “I want Kasha to make sure that no woman ever has a difficult time in getting the self-care products she needs to live her best life.”

Why The Investor Invested

Kasha presently operates in Rwanda and Kenya, and has supplied over 8 million goods to far. The company wants to “disrupt global health forever,” according to Bichsel, by becoming a global leader in the provision of products and information related to women’s health and personal wellness in Africa.

Kasha CEO Joanna Bichsel. — kasha CEO Joanna Bichsel.

“We are excited to strengthen our partnership with Kasha. Joanna and her team are deeply passionate about revolutionizing women’s access to healthcare,” said Eva Yazhari, Beyond Capital Ventures General Partner. “The team’s passion and commitment has allowed Kasha to navigate the pandemic and enter 2022 stronger than ever. I look forward to supporting Kasha and seeing what this next phase of growth has in store for them.”

Beyond Capital Ventures is a women-led impact venture capital business focused on emerging countries, with a diversified, dynamic, and low-risk portfolio. The company invests in the next wave of technologies that will meet the needs of India’s and East Africa’s 1 billion+ consumers. Beyond Capital Ventures will invest in conscious leaders establishing firms to solve expanding needs in “need-to-have” areas, primarily healthcare, agriculture, and financial inclusion, and will open in Spring 2021. The fund will also be the first to use an Equitable Venture structure, which gives Series A level founders a profit share in the GP carry. http://www.beyondcapitalventures.com

A Look At What Kasha Global Does

Kasha was founded in 2016 by CEO Joanna Bichsel, who previously worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a Principal Technology Advisor for Global Development and at Microsoft in various roles. Kasha was inspired by Joanna’s own motherhood journey and the lack of affordable women’s health and wellness products in Africa and other emerging markets.

In East Africa, Kasha has become a well-known and trusted brand. By selling health and pharmaceutical products to smaller stores, the company empowers its primarily female client base and network of sales agents, as well as reaching consumers directly to the last mile. Kasha’s revolutionary mass market consumer-facing platform also disseminates health and wellness information for women.

Kasha is unusual among its competitors in that it provides both online and offline services to people of all income levels. Kasha’s extensive delivery ecosystem has made it the only digital rural delivery service of any type in several parts of Kenya.

Beyond Capital Ventures Kasha Beyond Capital Ventures Kasha

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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

Kasha Secures Support from Mastercard to Upscale e-commerce in Rwanda

May 9, 2021

Kasha, the e-commerce startup which allows women across rural and urban locations to make confidential personal care orders, has secured funding from Mastercard to scale its impact. Kasha was launched in 2016 to sell menstrual care products, contraceptives, pharmaceuticals and a range of beauty products, and delivers to customers confidentially.

Joanna Bichsel, Kasha’s founder and chief executive officer

The startup allows customers to place orders for products via its website, a mobile app, SMS shortcode or phone call. It does not require a smartphone or internet connection, and is focused on female empowerment and self-care

Readalso:Airtel Leaves Ghana, Sells Business To Ghanaian Government

Kasha, which expanded to Kenya in 2019, raised a US$3 million Series A round last year, and has now added to that round with an undisclosed amount of investment from Mastercard. The direct equity investment into Kasha is the next step on a journey the two organisations have been on since Kasha joined the Mastercard StartPath programme in 2019. Since then, Mastercard has worked with Kasha to integrate digital payment acceptance across its e-commerce platform.

The investment will help Kasha expand its current platform offering, reaching more women, communities and small businesses than before.

“Kasha’s goal is to ensure women in emerging markets get the products, information and services they need for their health, self-care and well-being,” said Joanna Bichsel, Kasha’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO).

“I am thrilled that we are continuing our collaboration with Mastercard and that we not only have a committed investor with shared values, but also an innovative partner as we continue to take Kasha’s development and growth to the next level.”

Raghav Prasad, division president for Sub-Saharan Africa at Mastercard, said Mastercard was committed to applying its resources to drive sustainable and inclusive growth.

“Through our activities with Kasha we are leveraging Mastercard’s innovations, expertise and partnerships to help drive the empowerment of women and small businesses. This partnership is a major step in our journey to support the fundamental needs of women and drive growth across African communities,” he said.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

East African Ecommerce Startup Kasha Global Secures $1m Funding From DFC

February 18, 2021

Kasha Global, an e-commerce startup which provides women’s health and personal care products to customers in Rwanda and Kenya has landed $1m from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), alongside the Swedish development finance institution Swedfund, the Finnish development finance institution, Finnfund. The startup had previously received over $2.7m in grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2019. The investment will assist it to further scale its model.

**Kasha Global Founder & CEO Joanna Bichsel**

“Kasha is excited to bring DFC on as an investor and as a long term partner,” said Kasha Global Founder & CEO Joanna Bichsel. “With the U.S. Government’s significant ongoing investments in the areas of Global Health and with DFC’s focus on supporting businesses proven to drive both commercial returns as well as social impact, we see strong win-win opportunities as Kasha continues to grow and scale across East Africa and beyond. We have been impressed with the level of support DFC is extending into emerging market businesses and into women-led and women-focused businesses.”

Why The Investors Invested

United States International Development Finance Corporation’s latest investment in Kasha is aimed at assisting the startup to scale further. DFC noted that although Kasha’s growth has been rapid and its loyal customer base strong, funding the startup is only the right step to take as fundraising has substantially been hampered in emerging markets by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“High quality and equitable health services and products are fundamental to the wellbeing, and ultimately the economic potential, of women and girls in the developing world,” said Vice President for DFC’s Office of External Affairs Algene Sajery. “DFC is proud to support Kasha’s innovative business model, which is helping transform the personal care and health system supply chain in East Africa, and provide financing that strengthens economic growth in the region.”

DFC’s investment in Kasha Global was made through the corporation’s Portfolio for Impact and Innovation (PI2) initiative, which aims to finance early-stage, high-impact solutions to challenges facing developing countries.

Finnfund is a Finnish development financier and professional impact investor. Each year, the fund invests 200–250 million euros in 20–30 projects, emphasising renewable energy, sustainable forestry, sustainable agriculture and financial institutions. The fund has actively been investing in Africa with its latest investments being in solar energy companies Fuzu and Starsight.

Swedfund is equally a high impact investor.

DFC, Finnfund and Swedfund’s investment in Kasha all comes under and further fulfils the goals of DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative. The initiative has committed more than $4 billion of investment in projects that empower women in developing countries. The Kasha investment also qualifies for the 2X Challenge, an initiative of the G7 countries to support women’s economic empowerment. Kasha was co-founded by two women, 50 percent of Kasha’s senior leadership team are women, 75 percent of board members are women, 64 percent of Kasha’s employees are women, and the company’s products center around care for women and girls. Based on Kasha’s commitment to the 2X Challenge criteria, Kasha, DFC, Finnfund and Swedfund have signed a side letter which highlights Kasha’s 2X accomplishments and sets an example for other companies that seek to improve their businesses using the 2X Challenge criteria.

A Look At What Kasha Global Does

Founded in 2016 by two women, Amanda Arch, Joanna Bichsel, Kasha Global sells personal care, health, and beauty products to women in Rwanda and Kenya. The Company also provides customer insight reports to businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies.

Through its e-commerce platform, Kasha has reconfigured the supply chain, delivery channel, and customer experience in order to meet demand. Kasha’s business-to-customer line of business directly sells products to customers in rural and urban locations across East Africa, especially low income communities.

The company has also empowered over 400 local women to enter hard to reach communities to provide information and assist customers in purchasing products.

So far, Kasha has delivered over 1 million product units to over 130,000 unique customers, of which 63% are low income customers in Rwanda and Kenya.

Kasha Global expanded from Rwanda to Kenya in 2019.

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

Kasha Global funding Kasha Global funding Kasha Global funding