Konga, one of Nigeria’s big two online shopping
destinations has completed a new round of venture
funding in the sum of $25 million.
Previous Kongadestinations has completed a new round of venture
funding in the sum of $25 million.
investors, Kinnevik and Naspers are the two
participants in the series B round. The “official” but
yet to be announced deal was was finalised mere
days to the end of 2013, according to sources close
to the situation.
Beyond the fact that the round is skewed towards
Swedish Kinnevik’s lead, we could not ascertain the
structure of the deal, nor the resulting valuation.
Preceding cash injections saw $3.5 million seed
(Kinnevik) and $10 million series A (Kinnevik,
Naspers) invested into the e-commerce company
in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The latest raise in
December of 2013 brings Konga’s total funding to $
38.5 million.
Konga CEO, Sim Shagaya declined to comment on
the size of the latest fund. In a sparse response to
our inquiry, he said “the new injection” would allow
the company invest in high quality personnel, build
out technical systems, and achieve “operational
excellence in 2014″.
So far, the online store has held its own against stiff
Rocket Internet-fueled competition. Jumia, the
resulting amalgam of Kasuwa and Sabunta had a
two-month headstart in May 2012 and has received
a total of $50 million in funding, compared to
Konga’s $13.5 million between August 2012 and
December 2013.
Konga employs 200 staff ( Crunchbase info ) and in
the past year has assembled a formidable
executive team comprising individuals that used to
occupy senior roles at companies like Etisalat ,
Google, Amazon, Millicom and interestingly, Jumia.
Further, we have learnt that the Konga has recently
struck a deal with UPS – a technical integration that
will allow the store leverage the courier’s massive
logistics footprint across Nigeria – facilitating not
only nationwide delivery but also adding tracking
capabilities to their orders.
Konga’s $25 million dollar round is the biggest
single raise by any single African startup yet. Other
African startup rounds in the million dollar circle
include Koko Kopo’s $2.6 million series A and
iROKOtv’s $8 million series D . In June 2013, Rocket
raised $35 million to be distributed across their AIH
startups.
UPDATE: A Konga spokesperson has contacted us
with the following statement.
“ Konga’s investors continue to support
the business financially. They do so because
they are pleased with the company we are
building and the customers we are serving.
Fund raising is not the objective of our
business. Serving our customers is the
ultimate objective and we are confident that so
long as we do this consistently, our investors
who are long term and highly strategic will
continue to support us. All of resources and
energies are being put towards building out
our team, deploying world class technological
and logistics systems and achieving
operational excellence in the Nigerian market
in the short term.
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