Kenyan B2C e-commerce company Copia Global has raised $50 million in a Series C equity round led by Goodwell Investments.
The new financing round welcomed new investors such as Zebu Investment Partners, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and Koa Labs, as well as past investors Lightrock, German development finance institution DEG, and Perivoli Innovations.
The round comes three years after Copia’s Series B round of $26 million. The company has raised a total of $33.5 million in Series A and B funding. But including its Series C, Copia’s total funding since inception in 2013 now stands at $103 million.
Copia Global was founded in Kenya by Tracey Turner and Jonathan Lewis as a B2C e-commerce platform to serve Africa’s middle- and low-income African consumers.
The company said in a statement that it harnesses mobile technologies, a network of local agents, and proprietary Copia Logistics to reach a market that traditional retail and Western e-commerce models cannot.
Consumer spending in Africa is projected to reach over $2 trillion in the next three years, according to the IMF. The continent’s middle class is the primary driver of this growth. However, their shopping needs are not adequately served because of the high logistics costs that make Western-style e-commerce companies such as Jumia operate unprofitably. The African e-commerce giant has not turned a profit since going public as its losses continue to increase.
Copia operates primarily in Kenya, but it has since expanded its services to Uganda. The current raise will be used in expanding to west africa (Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast) and later expand to Southern Africa Region.
Copia has onboarded more than 30K agents, including shopkeepers. It has recorded more than 1.2 million unique customers so far most of the customers coming from rural areas.
