The news:
- Renda, a Nigerian logistics startup, has announced raising a $1.9 million pre-seed round.
- Ingressive Capital, an African-focused early-stage venture capital (VC) firm, led the $1.3 million equity portion of the pre-seed round, with participation from Techstars Toronto, Magic Fund, Golden Palm Investments, Reflect Ventures, and Vastly Valuable Ventures. Founders Factory Africa and SeedFi provided the remaining $600,000 in debt funding. *
- The three-year-old logistics startup, which aims to simplify order fulfilment and retail distribution for businesses across the continent, intends to use the funding to expand its offerings.
Furthermore, a portion of the capital injection will be used to expand into new cities in Nigeria and Kenya, where the company currently operates. Renda’s long-term strategy includes expanding its partner network in these two African markets.
As is common in Nigeria’s informal sector, the logistics industry faces challenges such as poor infrastructure, which makes it difficult for businesses of all sizes to move and store goods.
While several startups are tackling middle- and last-mile delivery challenges, many African businesses continue to struggle with end-to-end fulfilment solutions. Renda says it is focusing its offerings on addressing this.
The logistics company offers African businesses a complete infrastructure for smoother order fulfilment, which allows them access to easier product storage, inventory monitoring, order processing, delivery management, return handling, and real-time cash-on-delivery tracking.
Ope Onaboye, CEO of Renda, disclosed that the company operates an asset-light model, which has helped its rapid expansion across its markets.
Renda can serve clients without owning all of the infrastructure by partnering with third-party providers such as storage operators and delivery platforms along the chain. Flexport and ShipBob also take a similar approach.
According to Onaboye, the company has over 300 warehousing and storage partners, over 3,000 delivery assets (trucks, vans, and bicycles), and at least 2,000 cash collection partners. The company also claims its revenues grew 450% year-on-year.
Renda, which plans to expand into Kenya in late 2023, claims to have assisted over 500 businesses in reaching over 100,000 customers in 15 Nigerian states and processing over 250,000 orders.
Renda’s customer base has grown from small businesses to eCommerce platforms, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) producers, agriculture companies, and general manufacturers since its inception in 2021 by Onaboye and his sister Bimbo Onaboye.
Renda currently boasts a clientele that includes Jumia, M-KOPA, OmniRetail, and Dangote.
