Betastore, a B2B retail marketplace for informal retailers, has raised $2.5 million to help informal shops in West and Central Africa deal with stock outs and financing issues.
By removing connections with sales middlemen, the Betastore marketplace allows informal traders to access fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) directly from manufacturers or distributors, keeping products cost-competitive. It also collaborates with logistical partners to make sure things arrive within 24 hours.
After raising $2.5 million in pre-series funding, the Nigerian firm wants to grow beyond its existing three markets by the end of the year, including Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cameroon.
500 Global, VestedWorld, and Loyal VC have all invested. Betastore has received $3 million in investment to date.
Betastore CEO Steve Dakayi-Kamga, who co-founded the company with Leo-Armel Tchoudjang in mid-2020, stated that the startup’s ability to scale by using its asset-light strategy is critical.
Its goal is to grow to 100 cities across Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal before the end of the year. Betastore also intends to strengthen its technical and leadership teams, as well as introduce new products and enhance current ones.
Betastore’s asset-light business implies it doesn’t have any capital or labor-intensive assets like warehouses or its own delivery fleet.
This, according to Dakayi-Kamga, has aided the business in optimizing its technology so that merchants may acquire goods from the nearest distributors. A retailer that uses Betastore places 4.4 orders per month on average.
The B2B e-commerce platform will debut funding in July, following a trial program involving 200 retailers that the business conducted last year.
According to Tchoudjang, the BNPL financing plan will focus on retailer sales and will go a long way towards assisting them to expand the worth of their shopping baskets, and hence their businesses. Interest will be charged based on product margins, according to the startup.
Betastore is presently integrating its technology into a network of fintech and bank financing partners. The Betastore wallet is used by retailers to repay debts, deposit funds for operations, and transmit, receive, and save money.
Since its inception, the company claims to have increased its customer base and income by ten and twelvefold, respectively.
As it penetrates the $380 billion retail sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa, which contributes 20-50 percent of the region’s GDP on average, the business forecasts a significant increase, particularly after accessing more countries and pushing out its buy now pay later (BNPL) offering.
Techbuild’s Take
Today’s retailers are expected to operate with quickness, agility, and effectiveness. Retailers take advantage of any opportunity that comes their way to do this.
Thanks to technology and platforms like Betastore, the days of retailers having to close their stores for the entire day to source merchandise are over.
These platforms don’t just save retailers money and help them plan better. They’ve evolved into critical platforms that can give shops a competitive advantage in the market, allowing them to prosper and develop.
Because it regards the merchant as an agent who can make access to goods and services easier, Betastore wants to make it easier for merchants and end-users to access goods and services.
Betastore technology, according to Dakayi-Kamga, allows shops to place orders on demand, have access to a wide range of products, and address logistics problems.
They don’t have to shut their stores to go obtain goods from distributors or the market, and they don’t have to lose nearly half of their margins in logistics with Betastore.
Featured Image: Steve Dakayi-Kamga, Co-founder, BetaStore
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