ShopZetu, the fashion technology start-up, has announced the closure of its $1.0 million Pre-Seed funding round.
The round was led by Chui Ventures, with participation from Launch Africa, Roselake Ventures, Logos Ventures, and angel investors, including Kendall Tang (CEO, RT Knits), Ben Munoz (Co-Founder and CEO, Nadine West), Sumit Bhasin (SVP Global Innovation and Product Development, Estee Lauder Inc), Patricia Ithau (CEO, WPP Scangroup) and Peter Njonjo (Co-Founder and CEO, Twiga Foods).
Founded in 2021 by Marvin Kiragu and Wandia Gichuru, ShopZetu aims to establish itself as Africa’s most prominent fashion and lifestyle e-commerce company. Africa’s fashion retail industry is massively fragmented, with numerous small brands and fashion vendors serving customers offline in stalls and through social media platforms.
ShopZetu provides a platform to support online fashion retail for various vendors through a centralized e-commerce marketplace as well as content creation, digital marketing, warehousing, and last-mile delivery.
Over the past 2+ years, ShopZetu has experienced remarkable traction, achieving over 400% increase in monthly orders since January 2021. ShopZetu has served over 30,000 customers and sold more than 100,000 products. The platform currently hosts over 300 vendors offering a diverse range of over 20,000 products.
The Company’s commitment to innovation and customer-centricity is further highlighted by its recent collaboration with Safaricom to list on the M-Pesa super-app, expanding accessibility and convenience for its users.
“We are excited to be leading the charge in online fashion and lifestyle retail,” said Marvin Kiragu, CEO of ShopZetu. “The future of e-commerce in Africa will be driven by content, community, and hyper-personalization through recent advances in artificial intelligence.”
Joyce-Ann Wainaina, Managing Partner of Chui Ventures, stated, “We believe in ShopZetu’s vision to transform Africa’s fashion e-commerce landscape. The team’s commitment to building a scalable marketplace, coupled with their impressive traction, positions ShopZetu as a game-changer in the industry. We are excited to support their growth and contribute to their success.”
With the successful Pre-Seed fundraise, ShopZetu plans to scale customer acquisition in Kenya, expand its vendor base to 1,000 brands, venture into the beauty and home décor categories, and explore partnerships with international fashion brands seeking local distribution without needing physical stores. Additionally, the company intends to pilot regional delivery services in Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.
