Nigerian startup Eden Life, a home services app for scheduling food, laundry and cleaning services, has raised a US$1.4 million seed funding round to help it build out its service ready to scale.
Launched in 2019, Eden Life was developed for busy Lagos professionals who are often time-poor due to long working hours and struggle to source and coordinate dependable, efficient and trustworthy home services providers.
The app, available on Google Play and the App Store, offers users a subscription service that delivers high quality chef-cooked meals, laundry service and home cleaning as well as tracking progress on all their services. Users can subscribe to one or more of the services and set the frequency they want the services delivered.
Eden Life has quickly picked up more than 600 customers and is growing a loyal following with a 92 per cent monthly retention rate, and over 70 per cent of new users coming via referrals.
Its US$1.4 million seed round is led by the UK-based LocalGlobe, along with participation from Samurai Incubate, Future Africa, Village Global, Rising Tide Africa and Enza Capital. This brings Eden Life’s total investment to date to US$2 million, following pre-seed backing from all of Andela’s original co-founders and additional accelerator support over the last 18 months.
The new capital raised will be deployed to build out Eden Life’s in-house technology and develop its own world-class kitchens and operations hubs, as it builds a new tech-based platform to improve and grow Africa’s service industry.
Eden Life’s proprietary technology platform allows its users to continually give feedback on all aspects of service, using data to compile preferences and offer suggestions based on user feedback. The app also includes delivery time tracking, payments and billing, and user notifications, and the chores are then overseen by “Gardeners” – the human side of Eden Life – trained professionals who work with Eden Life service providers and end users to ensure a seamless service. The app’s robust architecture has enabled Eden Life to deliver more than 60,000 services since launching.
“For many of our users, if they’re cooking or running errands, they’re not being productive; they don’t want distractions from their work, which is where Eden Life comes in,” said Nadayar Enegesi, co-founder at Eden Life.
“We understand this scenario all too well. We are those people – so we basically designed a product with us in mind and realised that collectively, we are a pretty large market in Nigeria and have subsequently scaled Eden with other professionals from all walks of life who need simple tasks done with no fuss.”
A vertical integration strategy, fuelled by the seed funding, will ensure Eden can own and manage its entire supply chain and deliver its services without the need for third party providers by having a physical footprint where chefs prepare meals, laundry can be processed quickly and cleaners receive training to provide a high quality service.
Having launched with three core services, Eden Life will be rolling out many more over the coming months to make the app a one-stop tool to manage household chores and personal life.
“We fell in love with Eden Life’s vision for the future of home services in Africa. A true customer obsession sits at the heart of everything they are building – this is already visible in customer retention and other key metrics,” said Remus Brett, general partner at LocalGlobe. “As investors, we are always attracted to first-mover companies that launch products in untapped markets. The combination of this advantage with a core team who has proven experience building African tech to unrivalled levels sets Eden Life on an exciting path of growth.”
