Afrikea Rebrands to ANKA Raises $6.2 Million in pre-Series A  

by Kay Aloha Villamor in January 12th, 2022

Afrikea, an Ivorian e-commerce startup, has raised $6.2 million in a pre-Series A round, bringing the company’s total funding to $8.1 million. It's also rebranding to ANKA — the name of the SaaS platform it launched for sellers in partnership with DHL and Visa last year.

The round was led by Investisseurs & Partenaires, with participation from Alibaba’s Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai, BESTSELLER Foundation, VestedWorld, Enigmo, Groupe Prunay, and Rising Tide Africa. Joined by existing investors SAVIU Ventures (who is also participating in the round), Lofty Inc, Kepple Africa, Consonance, id4 Ventures, and Thierry Petit.

The fresh funding will be used to build out the mobile infrastructure of ANKA’s e-commerce SaaS and invest in further product development, including the expansion of the company’s scale of operations across new verticals.

It will also be used to boost talent acquisition across its product, sales, and finance teams while looking to hire more remote developers.

Company: Anka

Raised: $6.2M

Round: pre-Series A

Funding Month: January 2022

Lead Investors: Investisseurs & Partenaires

Additional Investors: Joe Tsai, BESTSELLER Foundation, VestedWorld, Enigmo, Groupe Prunay, Rising Tide Africa, SAVIU Ventures, Lofty Inc, Kepple Africa, Consonance, id4 Ventures, and Thierry Petit

Company Website: https://www.anka.africa/

Software Category: SaaS eCommerce platform

About the Company: Founded as an online marketplace for selling and buying African-inspired clothing, accessories, arts, and crafts, Afrikrea [now ANKA] recorded 250% year-on-year growth since it launched in 2016. 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 (Software-as-a-Service). ANKA has grown its retailer base to include sellers from 47 out of 54 African countries and completed over $35 million in transactions across 174 countries worldwide. More than 80% are women who have grown their revenue by 50% on average since joining the ANKA community. 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 retailers will still have access to the ANKA platform and its expanded services, content, and support to drive business growth.

 

Source: https://www.benjamindada.com/anka-raises-6-2million-pre-series-a-round/

 


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