{"id":2316,"date":"2022-01-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ancstockinvestments.com\/blog\/?p=2316"},"modified":"2022-01-11T17:04:55","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T16:04:55","slug":"afrikrea-secures-6-2-million-rebrands-anka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ancstockinvestments.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/12\/afrikrea-secures-6-2-million-rebrands-anka\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivorian E-Commerce Company Afrikrea Secures $6.2 Million in Pre-Series A Round, Rebrands to \u201cANKA\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Afrikrea, the e-commerce platform for \u201call things made of Africa,” has raised $6.2 million in a pre-Series A round led by Investisseurs & Partenaires and the rebrand to \u201cANKA,\u201d its all-in-one solution for selling anywhere, shipping globally, and receiving payments quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new investment includes participation from Alibaba\u2019s Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai, BESTSELLER Foundation, VestedWorld, Enigmo, Groupe Prunay, and Rising Tide Africa. They join existing investors SAVIU Ventures (who is also participating in the round), Lofty Inc, Kepple Africa, Consonance, id4 Ventures, and Thierry Petit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The additional funding brings the company\u2019s total investment to date to $8.1 million since its creation in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The new capital raised will be deployed to build out the mobile infrastructure of ANKA\u2019s e-commerce SaaS, allowing effortless global access for its retailers, as well as investing in further product development. Funding will also be used to boost talent acquisition across its product, sales, and finance teams while looking to hire more remote developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scaling across Africa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ANKA has grown its retailer base to include sellers from 47 out of 54 African countries and completed over $35 million in transactions in 174 countries worldwide. More than 80% are women who have grown their revenue by 50% on average since joining the ANKA community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the fundraise and rebrand, Moulaye Taboure, CEO and Co-Founder of ANKA said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have recorded unprecedented growth since the launch of ANKA last year; since then our subscribers tripled and volume on the newest services has multiplied by 8 just over the last 6 months. As our vision and clients’ needs had outgrown the singular purpose of the Afrikrea marketplace, operating under ANKA provides a more holistic description of our mission as a pan-African company.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Afrikrea
Moulaye Taboure, CEO and Co-Founder, ANKA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The platform currently records over 700,000+ visits a month with the majority of customers located in Europe and North America. Now operating as one of several channels under the ANKA umbrella, Afrikrea.com<\/a> retailers will still have access to the ANKA platform and its expanded services, content, and support to drive business growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also Read: The Year African Startups Normalized Raising $100 Million<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Introducing the ANKA all-in-one SaaS solution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Originally founded as an online marketplace for selling and buying African-inspired clothing, accessories, arts and crafts, Afrikrea recorded 250% y-o-y growth since 2016. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to better support its sellers and the rapid scaling of the business, ANKA was launched in 2021 as the first of its kind all-in-one SaaS solution to provide a seamless e-commerce service for African micro-retailers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANKA, (meaning \u201cOurs\u201d in Bambara and Djoula), aims to build an infrastructure dedicated to powering e-commerce for its 13,000+ sellers exporting literally \u201call things made of Africa\u201d to a global audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ANKA operates as an inclusive SaaS allowing sellers to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n