Social commerce startup Kapu, by ex-Jumia government, comes out of stealth with $8M funding • TechCrunch

Kapu, a social commerce startup, popping out of stealth right this moment having raised $8 million seed funding, is hoping to assist reduce the burden of shopping for meals for Kenyan shoppers, a lot of whom are grappling with the sky-rocketing meals costs.

Kapu founder, Sam Chappatte, an ex-Jumia government, stated the startup has since inception in January this yr been constructing a b2c e-commerce service that allows shoppers purchase groceries at decrease costs, by means of on-line and offline channels.

The startup is now constructing a community of native brokers that customers can place orders with. It can quickly assist WhatsApp orders too. By sourcing straight from producers and producers, Kapu allows group bulk-buying of groceries and claims to assist shoppers save up 30% of the spend on recent produce and packaged shopper items.

“Folks spending like 40 to 50% of their family revenue on the grocery basket is a giant drawback for society, however it’s also an enormous alternative … The rationale we began Kapu is that we predict that there’s a extra related mannequin of ecommerce that may be constructed to focus on the grocery basket, which is the largest portion of spend for the overwhelming majority of shoppers. And if through the use of know-how we will deliver effectivity then we will have an amazing impression on society for shoppers and companies,” Chappate instructed TechCrunch.

The Seed spherical was co-led by Large Ventures and Firstminute Capital, with participation from Founder Collective, Base Capital, Norrsken (Klarna co-founder Niklas Adalberth’s fund) and Raven One. They be part of Kapu’s early backers, together with India’s Meesho and Brazil’s Facily co-founders, and various African household workplaces, Twitter’s Biz Stone, Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen, Tom Blomfield of Monzo and serial entrepreneur Alexander Rittweger.

Kapu says it has thus far arrange 1,500 agent assortment facilities throughout Nairobi, and can, in its subsequent part of progress, work to completely penetrate Kenya’s capital earlier than increasing to new markets.

Kapu’s brokers, normally positioned inside residential areas, take the orders and make the deliveries the following day.

“Clients will obtain a notification from Kapu and likewise from the brokers, to go decide up their items. Many brokers may even ship to shoppers’ properties,” stated Chappate.

Kapu stated the offline channel (by means of brokers) and on-line direct to shopper (through WhatsApp) fashions are designed to go well with this market, the place e-commerce has not taken off however social commerce is displaying indicators of potential.

Kenya is alleged to have one of many highest percentages of month-to-month WhatsApp customers on this planet, based on World Internet Index’s 2020 Social Media Person Developments Report — taking place as the recognition of the social commerce sector surges within the area because the shift towards on-line procuring from e-commerce continues publish Covid.

Kapu joins the rising listing of startups which can be digitizing the casual retail sector in Kenya, together with Tushop, which launched final yr, to allow group shopping for of fast-moving shopper items (FMCGs) by means of brokers and WhatsApp.

Tommy Stadlen, founding associate of Large Ventures, which additionally led the Pre-Seed, stated: “By utilizing know-how to avoid wasting folks cash on on a regular basis items, Kapu will allow thousands and thousands of households throughout Africa to spend money on training and well being. Kapu’s staff is uniquely skilled to resolve this drawback.”