After raising $32 million in debt-equity funding, a startup focused on consumer-packaged goods is planning to introduce new financial services.
The debt was raised from undisclosed investors in the latest round, which was led by Flexcap.
Martin Kibet (COO), Iain Usiri (CEO) and Calvin Usiri (CTO) founded a startup that provides inventory management systems, procurement and point of sale software to its network of micro distribution centers.
Most of the time, the unreliable manual processes that are tedious, prone to errors, and fail to bring supply chain visibility are used by theseMDCs.
The app is deployed on a specialized point-of-sale device and a printer which salespeople use in warehouses to manage their inventory and operations. Usiri said that the data is accessible on computers and on the messaging service.
TheMDCs can easily track their operations and get financing based on their performance with the help of the technology of Ramani.
A 30-day inventory financing product has already been introduced by the startup. A 14-day revolving line of credit is one of the products that is planned to be launched.
One of the biggest supply chains in Africa is the consumer-packaged goods supply chain. We are building financial services for the supply chain.
Usiri said that they see a $1 billion revenue opportunity on the lending side of the business because they provide their software for free.
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The expansion of its distributor network is dependent on the growth of its partner brands.
Usiri said that brands introduced them to the distributors that they have.
By stitching together all the real-time inventory of each of their partners, brands are able to manage their networks better and they can see where their products are being sold. Production and marketing plans are also informed by it.
Usiri says that since launch, distributors have sold over 70 million dollars through the platform, with a 68% month over month growth in gross merchandise value. The year to date GMV growth is at 34%.
There are currently 100 activeMDCs using the platform, and they expect this number to grow as they double down their operations in Africa.
Usiri said that they want to create a cloud network of micro distribution centers all across Africa.
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