Tushop, a startup which enables communities in Nairobi to buy groceries more cheaply with free delivery, has secured US$3 million in pre-seed funding to expand its team and platform and roll out across Kenya.
The pre-seed round was led by 4DX Ventures. The round also saw participation from a number of VCs including:
- JAM Fund
- Breyer Capital
- Chandaria Capital
- DFS Lab
Besides the VCs, the oversubscribed round included additional participation from a number of angel investors, including:
- Olugbenga Agboola – CEO, Flutterwave
- Raja Kaul – President, Sundial Group
- Eli Pollak – CEO, Apollo Agriculture
- Ida Mannoh – Director of Growth, Chipper Cash
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The funds will be deployed to grow TuShop’s team, invest in tech to make its platform as easy to use as possible, and to further expand across Nairobi before rolling the service out to other cities in Kenya.
According to Cathy Chepkemboi, the Founder and CEO of TuShop, what makes the startup different in the growing retail innovations sector is the insight they have on:
- How food is expensive for many people across the city
- The difficulty that manufacturers have in reaching their FMCG goods to retailers
Founded in 2021, the startup aims to make access to groceries more affordable and more convenient for Kenyans, and eventually all Africans. The startup’s model involves community leaders who collect orders of groceries they need from their neighbors and support last-mile deliveries for TuShop.
Each community leader has a virtual shop where their neighbors place their orders. TuShop aggregates these orders so that they make bulk orders from manufacturers or other producers, like farmers.
According to the founder, this arrangement earns shoppers up to 60% in savings even with the agents earning sales commissions.
The startup plans to grow its business in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, before expanding to the rest of the country.
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