Football star participates in Kenyan e-commerce company's funding round
Kenyan e-commerce company Sky.Garden has closed a $4 million series A funding round with support from SANAD Fund for MSME, Aavishkaar, Uncovered Fund, and KSK Angel Fund, founded by a former AC Milan football star, Keisuke Honda.
Sky.Garden’s e-commerce technology has been built with a strong focus on African sellers and adapted to tap into the extensive logistics network of informal and structured shipping across the continent.
Since May 2017, thousands of stores in Kenya have opened webshops through Sky.Garden. Now a shoemaker at one end of Kenya can sell shoes to a customer at the other end without being trained in technology. The item will be delivered within 24 hours, and the money will be paid to the shoe seller’s account when the customer accepts the item.
With the investment, Sky.Garden will accelerate its mission to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs on the African continent backed by strategic insights and partners from Japan, India and Europe.
Martin Majlund, CEO of Sky.Garden commented: “Sky.Garden’s sole focus is to provide African sellers with best-in-class technology to access and reap the benefits of online commerce. This investment round will allow Sky.Garden to drive impact at scale. I’m looking forward to an exciting new chapter with these great partners pioneering e-commerce with the African entrepreneur in mind.”
SANAD board chairperson, Dr. Daniela Beckmann said: “SANAD has long promoted the power of technology for financial inclusion and business growth, and the pandemic has underscored the importance of digital solutions in ensuring flexible, sustainable operations for entrepreneurs. We are very pleased to be joining forces with Sky.Garden, an impactful company expanding access to the benefits of e-commerce to the locally owned businesses that drive the engine of the economy and are at the core of SANAD’s mission. With an investment into Sky.Garden, we will also enable technology transfer for the benefit of entrepreneurs in the region.”
Ashish Patel, partner at Aavishkaar Capital noted: “Covid-19 has accelerated the need for the large but highly fragmented and unorganised retail industry in Africa to access the digital economy. Sky.Garden is at the forefront at offering these businesses, transformative tools to fully capitalise on the uniquely African e-commerce opportunity, emerging as one of the leading e-commerce enabling platforms on the continent.”
Keisuke Honda, founder of KSK Angel Fund, added: “I am delighted to join Sky.Garden as an investor as I can foresee Martin and his team helping Kenyan SMEs manage and grow their operations, which will eventually improve quality of life and solve social issues in that region. One day I will visit Kenya and look forward to seeing people all over doing business with the Sky.Garden app.”
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