Mobile e-commerce platform Copia Global has raised $26 million in a Series B funding led by LGT Lightstone alongside Goodwell Investment, Perivoli Innovations, Endeavor Catalyst, and ELEA.
The platform started operations in Kenya in 2013 and started its trade to serve unbanked and low-income African consumers. The company takes advantage of mobile technologies and logistics to sell its trade and says it has managed to penetrate remote markets that other e-commerce sites have been unable to get access to.
Copia has a robust network of 5000 agents and small shopkeepers who serve as ordering and delivery points across Kenya. This model has allowed the firm to offer serves for customers using online or offline means.
So far, Copia says it has attended to more than 3 million orders and delivers in under two days.
“While mobile technology underpins all we do, it is Copia’s relentless focus on building trust – through reliable delivery, quality products, low prices and uncompromising customer service – that has enabled the Company to succeed in a market that many perceive as impossible to serve,” said Tracey Turner, Founder and Chair of Copia Global.
“Copia’s m-commerce model is the next big African leapfrogging technology; just like mobile phones leapfrogged landlines and solar power leapfrogged the grid, Copia is leapfrogging retail. LGT Lightstone believes Copia’s m-commerce model is the way to reach a huge untapped market that others cannot serve,” added Shakir Merali, Partner at LGT Lightstone.
Alongside the development is that Copia has announced the appointment of two new Board members, Isaac Awuondo and Betty Mwangi. Isaac was previously posted at CBA as the lender’s Managing Director, and serves as the Chairman of the newly minted NCBA Bank PLC. Betty worked at Safaricom and was part of the team that introduced critical innovations in the carrier’s mobile money product, M-PESA. Betty’s experience with the operator will reportedly be tapped to see Copia expand the scope of its agency network.
