Betastore, a B2B retail marketplace for informal retailers in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal, has raised $2.5 million in pre-series A funding from 500 Global, VestedWorld, and Loyal VC, plans to provide these services beyond its current three markets by expanding to Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon by the end of this year. 

The Nigeria-based startup Betastore has to date raised $3 million in funding.

“What is really important for us is to be able to continue to scale by leveraging our asset-light model. We plan to enter new markets before the end of the year and to expand to 100 cities across Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal. We are also planning to reinforce our technology and leadership teams, and to bring in new products and to improve existing ones,” said Betastore CEO, Steve Dakayi-Kamga, who co-founded the startup with Leo-Armel Tchoudjang mid 2020.

Why The Investors Invested

The startup has generated considerable traction since it was founded. Since its inception, the startup claims to have increased its customer base and revenue by 10 and 12 times, respectively. As it penetrates the retail industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, which was valued at $380 billion in 2021 and contributes 20–50 percent of the region’s GDP on average, the business forecasts further growth, particularly after entering more countries and rolling out its buy now pay later (BNPL) offering.

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“We believe Betastore’s talented team is creating market efficiencies that have the potential to boost the growth of Africa’s retailers. With Betastore, merchants can get greater transparency into wholesaler inventories and price points,” Bhatti, principal at 500 Global said.

A Look At What The Startup Does

The Betastore marketplace allows informal traders to source fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) directly from manufacturers or distributors, keeping product prices competitive by removing interactions with sales agents. It also collaborates with logistical partners to ensure that goods are delivered within 24 hours.

The asset-light strategy implies that Betastore does not have any capital or labor-intensive assets, such as warehouses or its own fleet of delivery vehicles. According to CEO Dakayi-Kamga, who previously worked at Jumia, where he oversaw the e-commerce platform’s logistics, warehousing, and marketplace fulfillment, this has assisted the firm in optimizing its system to ensure that merchants acquire goods from the closest distributors. A retailer who uses Betastore places 4.4 orders per month on average.

“Our technology enables retailers to order on demand, access a variety of products and solves logistics headaches for them too. With Betastore, they don’t have to close their shops to go get goods from distributors stores or the market, and do not have to lose close to half of the margins in in the logistics,” said Dakayi-Kamga. 

The B2B ecommerce platform will debut funding in July, following a trial program involving 200 retailers that the business conducted last year.

Tchoudjang claims that the BNPL financing plan will be based on retailer sales and will go a long way toward helping shops increase the value of their shopping baskets and, ultimately, their businesses. The startup intends to charge interest on product margins.

Betastore’s technology is now being integrated into a network of funding partners, including fintechs and banks.

“The mandate of some of the partners we have on board is to support the economy by financing small businesses, but are not able to lend to them because they do not have the data to inform decisions. We have the visibility of what is happening in this sector, and have data they can use to extend financing,” said Tchoudjang.

Tchoudjang previously held executive and leadership roles in Africa for the IFC-backed AccessHolding AG network. He has also previously assisted global corporations in the launch of fintech and microfinance solutions for emerging areas.

Retailers utilize the Betastore wallet to repay loans, deposit funds for operations, as well as to transmit, receive, and save money.

“The wallet helps them separate their business money from their own money, and it is directly connected to the whole banking system, meaning that retailers can receive and send money to any bank, and load cash with any agency banking platform,” said Tchoudjang.

“We want to simplify access to goods and services for the retailers and for the end consumer because we see the merchant as an agent able to make access to goods and services easier. We started out in Nigeria, and we are expanding within Francophone Africa on our way to being a pan African player,” said Dakayi-Kamga.

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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. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh