Kenya: ShopZetu Raises Sh140.8 Million to Invest in Local Fashion Industry

5 July 2023
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Kevin Rotich

Nairobi — Fashion technology start-up ShopZetu has raised Sh140.8 million ($1 million) that it will invest in Kenya's fashion industry.

The pre-seed funding was led by Chui Ventures with participation from Launch Africa, Roselake Ventures, Logos Ventures, and angel investors, including Kendall Tang (CEO, RT Knits) and Ben Munoz (Co-Founder and CEO, Nadine West)

Others were Sumit Bhasin (SVP Global Innovation and Product Development, Estee Lauder Inc), Patricia Ithau (CEO, WPP Scangroup) and Peter Njonjo (Co-Founder and CEO, Twiga Foods).

It will use the capital to scale customer acquisition in Kenya, expand the vendor base to 1,000 brands, venture into the beauty and home décor categories, and explore partnerships with international fashion brands seeking local distribution without needing physical stores.

Additionally, the company intends to pilot regional delivery services in Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

"We are excited to be leading the charge in online fashion and lifestyle retail," said Marvin Kiragu, CEO of ShopZetu.

"The future of e-commerce in Africa will be driven by content, community, and hyper-personalization through recent advances in artificial intelligence."

Founded in 2021 by Kiragu and Wandia Gichuru, ShopZetu seeks to revolutionise Africa's fashion and lifestyle e-commerce industries.

Africa's fashion retail industry is massively fragmented, with numerous small brands and fashion vendors serving customers offline in stalls and through social media platforms.

ShopZetu provides a platform to support online fashion retail for various vendors through a centralized e-commerce marketplace as well as content creation, digital marketing, warehousing, and last-mile delivery.

ShopZetu has served over 30,000 customers and sold more than 100,000 products.

The platform currently hosts over 300 vendors offering over 20,000 products.

"We believe in ShopZetu's vision to transform Africa's fashion e-commerce landscape. The team's commitment to building a scalable marketplace, coupled with their impressive traction, positions ShopZetu as a game-changer in the industry. We are excited to support their growth and contribute to their success," Joyce-Ann Wainaina, Managing Partner of Chui Ventures, stated.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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