Nigerian social and video commerce platform Rabawa has raised US$163,000 in funding to help it scale its operations.
Launched this year, Rabawa allows resellers to leverage social media for curating, promoting, and selling products from manufacturers and distributors to end-users. It gives resellers access to a virtual shop and thousands of products from trusted suppliers.
Over 5,000 resellers and 1,000 suppliers are currently registered on the platform, and the startup now plans to scale even more quickly after raising funding from US-based VC firm Aptive Capital.
The US$163,000 in capital will be utilised to boost Rabawa in its aim of becoming a key player in Africa’s e-commerce space by utilising social and video commerce.
“With the pace at which Rabawa has grown within one month in Nigeria, we will be able to deploy social and video commerce to other African markets,” said Olayinka Akinkunmi, the company’s chief operating officer (COO).
Aptive Capital managing partner Paul Brandon Gilpin said his company wanted to identify impressive talents and business models.
“We are very impressed with Rabawa’s deep knowledge of the market and their planned approach to solve the challenges of unemployment, poor product availability, high cost of logistics, access to market issues, and poverty across Africa,” he said.
Aptive Capital has so far invested in eight African startups, including in the likes of OneKiosk, SkyfireDigital, MimiMoney, Statesman, and Slabdeck.
