Ghanaian startup KudiGO, which builds solutions for the consumer retail industry, has closed a US$450,000 seed funding round to expand its customer base and launch new products.
KudiGO provides an integrated, mobile-based retail, payments, accounting and analytics engine for the consumer retail industry in Ghana and Nigeria, helping over 1,000 businesses receive payments, track inventories and build sound financial models based on past trends
Disrupt Africa reported in November the startup had formally launched and was closing in on a seed funding round, which it has now secured. The US$450,000 investment comes from Founders Factory Africa, with KudiGo one of five African startups selected to take part in its first six-month African accelerator, and three angel investors from Ghana, the United States (US) and Nigeria.
KudiGO’s “chief enabler” Kingsley Abrokwah said the funding and the chance to take part in the Founders Factory accelerator meant it was an exciting time for the team at KudiGO, which was focused on enabling the un-addressed informal retail industry in Africa.
“Having successfully closed this initial investment round, we are focused on achieving our year end target of 5,000 businesses on our platform, achieving a 40 per cent business growth for these businesses by virtue of using our solutions, rolling out our credit referencing and micro-lending modules specifically targeted at users of our platform in partnership with our strategic partners and investors,” he said.
Abrokwah said KudiGO, which just went live with its digital payment processing service in Ghana and Nigeria, had decided to take part in the Founders Factory programme due to its structure, with Standard Bank the key partner. He said KudiGO understood the need for strategic partnerships with corporates if it was to achieve its mission, and had already agreed partnerships with Sage Pastel and Interswitch Group.
