MarketForce - Afrikan Heroes

East And West Africa Are Top Expansion Destinations For Startups In Africa In 2021

October 12, 2021

African startups continue their expansion journeys across the continent and beyond. Sendy, a Kenyan logistics startup that just expanded to Ivory Coast as a result of its investment in mobility startup Kamtar, is the most recent to jump on board.

Also joining Sendy is another East African startup, MarketForce, which has also moved to Nigeria. The expansion comes after the company raised $2 million in funding just a few weeks ago.

Tesh Mbaabu, co-founder and CEO of MarketForce

“Africa is reported to have over 100 million merchants. A whopping 40 million of them are in Nigeria, with the highest annual FMCG purchasing in the whole continent, signifying how significant the market opportunity for MarketForce is,” said Tesh Mbaabu, co-founder and CEO of MarketForce, adding that, “Nigeria FMCG retail distribution operates very much like Kenya, it is very fragmented and competitive, which gives us the opportunity to make a real impact for both retailers and manufacturers.”

Other notable startups that have recently expanded regionally across Africa and beyond, include SweepSouth which broadened to Nigeria, Moov Africa which went to South Africa, and many others.

The table below shows that East and West Africa attract the most startup expansions in Africa, with Ethiopia and French-speaking West Africa increasingly becoming the newest markets of interest for the startups. Also leading other sectors are fintech and mobility. The startups expanded mostly through direct physical presence or through indirect means such as acquisitions and partnerships.

African startup expansion African startup expansion

S/N	AFRICAN STARTUPS	SECTOR	BASE COUNTRY OF OPERATIONS	COUNTRY EXPANDED INTO IN 2021 (As of October 12th)

1	mPharma	Healthtech	Ghana	Ethiopia
2	Aza Finance	Fintech	Kenya	South Africa
3	Gozem	Ride-hailing	Togo	Gabon
4	Andela	Edtech	New York, USA	Latin, South America
5	SWVL	Ride-hailing	Egypt	Saudi Arabia; Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region (through Shotl’s acquisition)
6	GOMYCODE	Edtech	Tunisia	Morocco; Senegal
7	FairMoney	Fintech	Nigeria	India
8	Autochek	Car listing	Nigeria	Ghana
9	Daystar Power	Solar energy	Nigeria	Togo
10	ZeePay	Fintech	Ghana	Zambia
11	Catch	Ride-hailing	Ethiopia	Kenya
12	AURA	Security	South Africa	Kenya
13	Paystack	Fintech	Nigeria	South Africa
14	Flutterwave	Fintech	Nigeria	Ethiopia
15	Termii	Communications-as-a-service	Nigeria	Cote D’ivoire
16	Little Cab	Ride-hailing	Kenya	Ethiopia
17	Helium Health	Healthtech	Nigeria	Kenya
18	M-KOPA	PAYG solar/ asset financing	Kenya	Nigeria
19	Nawah Scientific	Life Science	Egypt	Jordan
20	SweepSouth	Cleaning services	Kenya	Nigeria
21	Moov Africa	Mobility	Nigeria	South Africa
22	Chipper Cash	Fintech	Ghana/USA	South Africa
23	MarketForce	B2B Retail Distribution	Kenya	Nigeria
24	Sendy	Logistics	Kenya	Ivory Coast (through Kamtar investment)
25	Ukheshe	Fintech	South Africa	Asia-Pacific
26	BznsBuilder	Business Relation Management	Egypt	Indonesia
27	TymeBank	Digital bank	South Africa	Philippines
28	Vezeeta	Health tech	Egypt	Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya
29	Autocheck	Auto tech	Nigeria	Uganda, Kenya (through Cheki’s acquisitions)
30	Copia Global	Ecommerce	Kenya	Uganda
31	Treepz (Formerly Plentywaka)	Mobility	Nigeria	Ghana (through Stabus’ acquisition)
32	Flutterwave	Fintech	Nigeria	Ethiopia; East Africa (through partnerships with Amole and Airtel)

Based on reported actual expansions

Nigerian Startups Lead African Startup Expansion Efforts In 2021, With Fintech Topping The List

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

Y Combinator Again Backs Kenyan Retail-tech, MarketForce, In $2m Series A Funding Round

July 9, 2021

Almost four years after pivoting from software company, Mesozi, founder Tesh Mbaabu and his team have been basking in funding for the fall-out of the pivot — the Nairobi-based retail-tech startup MarketForce. Apart from recently acquiring Digiduka, a two-year-old Kenyan startup dedicated to bringing Africa’s informal shops into the digital economy, and raising $350k seed funding last year, the startup has landed $2m in Series A round of funding partly from its former investors. Existing investors such as P1 Ventures and Y Combinator, as well as new investors such as Launch Africa, V8 Capital, Future Africa, GreenHouse Capital, Rebel Fund, Remapped Ventures, and other undisclosed angel investors, participated in this round.

MarketForce intends to use this round of funding to launch RejaReja, a platform it launched in December 2020 which helps informal retail merchants buy and sell FMCGs and digital financial services, in Nigeria as well as more East African cities. Over 15,000 retail clients already utilize RejaReja to handle thousands of orders everyday in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, where the firm has a presence.

“We’ve run both models simultaneously and we’ve seen much faster traction on the e-commerce side of the marketplace. We’re investing more and more resources into that, and the pre-Series A round was raised to focus on scaling that platform,” CEO said.

Why The Investors Invested

Fundamentally, investors in this round invested because the startup has gained a lot of traction, though RejaReja also played a role in persuading investors because products like RejaReja has already been used by other African startups like TradeDepot and Sokowatch, which are also attempting to revamp supply-chain markets for Africa’s informal retailers. Over 10,000 monthly active users have already signed up for MarketForce’s patented SaaS offering. Since its introduction in 2018, these users have completed 300,000 transactions totaling more than $500 million. Pepsi, Safaricom, Fort Beverages, Lami, and Platinum Credit are among MarketForce’s clients.

“…MarketForce has proven that they know how to leverage the entire retail supply chain as a gateway for digital payments. Their organic, as well as acquisition-driven growth and expansion strategy thus far, has proven that their understanding of unit economics and marginal customer acquisition costs is solid. As a pan-African fintech company, they are very well positioned to tap into the $700 billion that gets transacted in this space every year,” managing partner at Launch Africa, Zachariah George, said in a statement.

The startup’s membership in the Y Combinator Summer 2020 Batch has also served as a crucial fundraising reference point. Following its acceptance into the program, MarketForce360 got $150,000 from the US-based accelerator. The validation from Y Combinator came after ViKtoria Business Angels Network (VBAN) had previously invested $350k in the firm. EchoVC Partners, P1 Ventures, and Ventures Platform also joined the network at the time.

A Look At What The Startup Does

MarketForce was formed in 2018 by Tesh Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti. Through its network of agents, MarketForce enables the optimal distribution of Fast Moving Consumer Goods and financial services (FMCG).

RejaReja, the company’s recently introduced offering, will provide next-day delivery for a few FMCG brands. Though the company’s flagship MarketForce retail distribution product is still growing, the founders believe RejaReja holds the majority of the company’s finest opportunities.

RejaReja, a MarketForce subsidiary, operates an asset-light approach in which it does not own capital assets such as warehouses or delivery vans. The majority of the assets are leased from the company’s partners (distributors, manufacturers, and third-party logistics providers) to fulfill orders.

Marketforce retail-tech Marketforce retail-tech

Why Kenyan Startup Marketforce Acquired 2 Year-Old Startup Digiduka

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

Why Kenyan Startup Marketforce Acquired 2 Year-Old Startup Digiduka

June 20, 2021

MarketForce, a Kenyan end-to-end retail distribution company for African consumer brands, has announced the strategic purchase of Digiduka, a two-year-old startup dedicated to bringing Africa’s informal shops into the digital economy.

*Roy Njoka, Co-founder and CEO of Digiduka*

Digiduka, which was founded and financed during the Antler program’s first cohort in Nairobi, helps comparable informal sellers generate extra money by reselling digital services including airtime, power tokens, and bill payments. Digiduka also offers a wallet that allows merchants to accept mobile money and bank payments using a mobile app, WhatsApp bot, or USSD shortcode, avoiding expensive mobile money transaction costs and encouraging both merchants and end users to spend less cash. In 2020, Digiduka was selected as one of eight African businesses for the Facebook Accelerator: Commerce program.

“Our team is excited to join forces with MarketForce and go after this US$ 700 Billion market opportunity together. Despite the seeming runaway success of mobile money in Kenya, a huge 92 percent of retail payments for daily expenses are still made in cash, among informal retailers and low-income consumers. The opportunity to digitize a large portion of this transactions and extend working capital to these retailers is also largely untapped due to the perceived risk that MarketForce resolves through having reliable data on re-stocking patterns at the retail level,” says Roy Njoka, Co-founder and CEO of Digiduka.

The acquisition will hasten the integration of financial services into RejaReja, MarketForce’s B2B marketplace, which allows informal shops to source, order, and pay for inventory at any time via interactive SMS and mobile app, and have it delivered within hours, saving them time and money they would have spent if they had to close shop and go out looking for stock.

Within 10 months of launch, RejaReja has been able to directly serve over 12,000 informal retailers in Kenya, fulfilling over 75,000 orders; while Digiduka also experienced amazing reception within the first year of launching, with over 6,800 merchants acquired across several major Kenyan towns. Digiduka is on track to triple the user base and process in excess of US$ 5 million in transactions through the platform in 2021.

The purchase also brings together two firms with the same objective of offering an all-encompassing digital commerce platform for Africa’s informal sellers. The whole Digiduka team has joined MarketForce, with Roy Njoka and Lovell Larbie, the company’s co-founders, serving as VP of Partnerships & Digital Financial Services (DFS) and VP of Engineering, respectively.

Digiduka received an overwhelmingly positive response within its first year, with over 6,800 merchants acquired throughout multiple major Kenyan cities. By 2021, Digiduka expects to have tripled its user base and processed more than $5 million in transactions through its platform.

“Our teams share a vision and values, to a large extent. Therefore, acquiring Digiduka instead of competing with them just makes sense. It’s all about two solid teams coming together to create a massive impact in African retail. This is a case where one plus one is equal to five,” said Tesh Mbaabu, MarketForce Co-founder and CEO.

Marketforce has taken a significant fintech step forward by enabling retailers to act as a one-stop shop for even more financial services, such as insurance and banking, in Kenya and other markets. Enabling retailers to upsell such services significantly increases retailer earnings while solving the last-mile distribution challenge and driving financial inclusion.

International Corporates Form A Circle To Partner With Startups In 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 write

Kenyan Retail-tech Startup MarketForce Secures $150k

August 13, 2020

MarketForce, the Kenyan retail-tech startup that enables consumer brands to optimise how they deliver essential goods and services to retailers and consumers by bridging the information gap in last mile distribution, while maximising efficiency across the sales and distribution value chain and which is the only Sub-Saharan African company selected for the Y Combinator Summer 2020 batch has secured US$150,000 in funding.

“The product expansion was inspired by Y Combinator, which affirmed our realisation that our technology is just one part of the equation. To fully bridge the gap in last mile distribution, it is crucial that we couple up our technology with essential services on the ground in order to create maximum impact for our initial customers,” Tesh Mbaabu, who co-founded MarketForce alongside Mesongo Sibuti said.

Here Is What You Need To Know

With the new US$150,000 in funding from Y Combinator, MarketForce will launch a new business line, MarketForce Troops, which enables financial service providers to grow their retail distribution channels in Africa.
In May, 2020, MarketForce raised US$350,000 in seed funding to help it build upon its existing momentum and enhance its product to unlock new revenue streams, the funding coming from the ViKtoria Business Angels Network (VBAN), EchoVC Partners, P1 Ventures, and Ventures Platform.
MarketForce will also use the funding to build out its network and adapt its technology in order to support its local merchant stores and sales teams.

A Look At What Startup MarketForce Does

Launched in 2018, MarketForce leverages mobile devices by enabling field agents to record all customer interactions as they happen in the field, and then aggregates this data and presents it through live web dashboards.

“Through analyzing the orders being placed across thousands of retailers and sales agents on MarketForce in real-time, we are able to visualize this data and tell the manufacturer and distributors who is buying their product, when they are buying it, where they are buying it, at what price, and what they’re buying it in conjunction with; enabling them to tailor their marketing efforts and promotions based on real-time market trends and consumer purchasing habits,” Mbaabu said.

Although the startup operates from Nairobi, it also has procured paying customers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, said Mbaabu.

“Over the last 18 months, we have built a functional product, and have on boarded over 45,000 informal retail outlets, 25 consumer goods and service companies, with over 4,200 sales agents, who have processed over 85,000 transactions, worth over 155 Million USD through our platform,” Mbaabu said. “We have already begun to set up operations in Uganda and intend to do the same in Tanzania next year(2020), before scaling out to more emerging markets that face this pressing challenges over the next couple of years.”

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

Kenyan Retail Startup MarketForce Secures $350k In Seed Funding Round

May 26, 2020

Investors are turning their eyes towards e-commerce and healthcare more now. Almost three years after pivoting from software company, Mesozi, founder Tesh Mbaabu and his team have secured funding for the fall-out of the pivot — the Nairobi-based retail-tech startup MarketForce. With its new US$350,000 in seed fundraise, MarketForce would be looking to consolidate on its progress so far as well as put new touches to its product to grow new revenue streams.

“Over the last few months, we have been working on the next phase of the business, a retail ordering feature that will enable shopkeepers to source, order and pay for stock at anytime via interactive SMS and mobile app, and get it delivered directly to their store by the nearest wholesaler or distributor, within hours, saving them time and money that they would have had to spend if they closed shop and went out to look for stock,’’ Mbaabu said.

Here Is What You Need To Know

The new fundraise came from the ViKtoria Business Angels Network (VBAN), and has been directed to Mesozi, MarketForce’s holding company from which it pivoted to its present state.
MarketForce said it had seen good momentum of late and would use the seed funding to build out its product to unlock new revenue streams while expanding its team’s capacity across East Africa.

“2020 has been an incredibly important year for us. After two bootstrapped years of R&D, building the product, and testing across various industries, we are ready to take in external capital,” said Mbaabu.

“Initial customers love our product, so we are ready to aggressively grow our customer base as we make an impact in the expansive African retail and distribution economy. We are focused on supporting our clients to sell more during this difficult time and plan to raise additional capital within the year to support our growth efforts.”

Why The Investor Invested

Jason Musyoka, manager at VBAN, said he believed the highly fragmented African retail and distribution value chain was primed for disruption.

“The analytics from such platforms will be instrumental in distribution optimization hence bringing goods to as close as possible to the highly-expectant, globally-aware African consumer market. The team at Mesozi has proven to be capable of delivering the product and eager to exploit the opportunities the sector presents,” he said.

Since 2011, the ViKtoria team has been actively supporting the growth of entrepreneurial ecosystems in various sectors in East Africa.

“We connect angel investors with innovative companies that are charting new paths and tapping into large market opportunities to meet basic needs such as entertainment, transport and infrastructure. Angel investors not only inject capital needed to test business models and early stage growth, but they also provide mentorship, sector knowledge and experience, business acumen and access to networks,’’ ViKtoria states.

For startups in East Africa looking to pitch to it, ViKtoria usually expects that they should:

Be post-prototype and post-first revenue.
Have a founding team with sector expertise as well as technical and business know-how.

If you are the founder of a start-up seeking an opportunity to acquire capital please contact them.

A Look At What Startup MarketForce Does

MarketForce leverages mobile devices by enabling field agents to record all customer interactions as they happen in the field, and then aggregates this data and presents it through live web dashboards.

“Through analyzing the orders being placed across thousands of retailers and sales agents on MarketForce in real-time, we are able to visualize this data and tell the manufacturer and distributors who is buying their product, when they are buying it, where they are buying it, at what price, and what they’re buying it in conjunction with; enabling them to tailor their marketing efforts and promotions based on real-time market trends and consumer purchasing habits,” Mbaabu said.

Although the startup operates from Nairobi, it also has procured paying customers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, said Mbaabu.

“Over the last 18 months, we have built a functional product, and have on boarded over 45,000 informal retail outlets, 25 consumer goods and service companies, with over 4,200 sales agents, who have processed over 85,000 transactions, worth over 155 Million USD through our platform,” Mbaabu said. “We have already begun to set up operations in Uganda and intend to do the same in Tanzania next year(2020), before scaling out to more emerging markets that face this pressing challenges over the next couple of years.”

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