Black Company Raises $2.4 Million To Build Technology For Cross-Border Commerce In Africa

A tech startup that provides borderless e-commerce payment services among its offerings, Klasha, has raised $2.4 million in seed funding to scale up.

The firm will use the funding to help international businesses take in online payments in African currencies from consumers continent-wide and give the merchants the money in their preferred currency, Pymnts.com reported.

Now available in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, Klasha plans to add three new countries in the fourth quarter to a customer base of 10,000.

“By 2025, half of the world’s population will live in Africa,” Klasha Founder and CEO Jessica Anuna said. “It is imperative that African consumers are able to remain globally competitive, which includes having access to the goods they want without payment or delivery restrictions.”

The “Motherland Continent” offers strong potential growth opportunity for Klasha. Analysts report the value of e-commerce in Africa is expected to reach $29 billion next year. Yet, Africans still find it difficult to make international payments for products online, TechCrunch reported. Klasha reports Nigerians alone spend $12 billion online annually and are set to increase that to $25 billion by 2025.

Based in Lagos and San Francisco, the startup, sees a niche in cross-border commerce and provides multiple integrations to help simplify transactions. Founded by Anuna in 2018, the firm initially focused on making it easier for Africans to buy products from global fashion retailers.

But now, Anuna says the firm has several features and a new business model focused on helping Africans make payments and get the goods they want—as long aren’t perishable—despite their location.

Since Klasha relaunched in May, TechCrunch disclosed the firm has processed over 20,000 transactions and claims to be growing 366% monthly. It generates revenue via sales commissions and subscriptions retailers pay to use Klasha for analytics and help check how their products are faring in different markets.

“For a lot of these retailers, this is the first time they’ve ever sold into Africa before. So we offer a complete end-to-end e-commerce suite for them as opposed to having to use disjointed services that aren’t interconnected with technology,” Anuna said.