Despite being the largest and most thriving furniture industry in East Africa, the sector is hampered by production inefficiencies and quality concerns, forcing most major retailers to settle on imports.
MoKo Home + Living saw the gap and set out to bridge it through quality and guarantees. A $6.5 million series B debt-equity funding round was co-led by a U.S based investment fund and a Swiss investor.
Novastar and Blink made follow-on investments. A debt that can be turned into equity is one of the things Victoria Commercial Bank offers.
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We entered this market because we wanted to guarantee and deliver high quality furniture. MoKo wants to bring convenience to customers by making it easy for them to buy home furniture, the largest asset for most families in the country, according to the company's managing director.
Watervale Investment limited sought to fix raw material supply issues for furniture makers. The MoKo Home + Living brand was launched a year after it pivoted and began a pilot for a consumer product.
Over the last three years, the startup has grown five-fold and its products are in more than 350,000 homes. It wants to sell to millions of homes over the next few years as it scales up production. The MoKo mattress is a current product.
Each major piece of furniture in a typical home will be offered for free. Existing product categories like sofas and mattresses are being developed into even more affordable ones.
It's the first brand that's digital.
MoKo is going to use the funding to build more partnerships with retailers and outlets in order to increase the amount of offline sales. More equipment will be purchased.
MoKo has invested in equipment that can take complex woodworking designs programmed by our engineers and execute them precisely in seconds. The team has been helped by this. The software that calculates optimal use of raw materials has helped them cut waste.
MoKo has a climate friendly production capability. The company is a leader in the industry because they have turnedsustainability into a commercial advantage. The AlphaMundi Group said that every step they have taken on this front has improved the affordability of MoKo's offering to its customers.
MoKo wants to enter three new markets and reach a wide pool of customers by the year 2025.
The potential for growth is what we're most excited about. There is still a lot of room for improvement in the country. MoKos model is relevant for most markets in Africa, where families face similar obstacles in making comfortable, welcoming homes.
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