Sky.Garden has received Ksh. 431 million (USD 4 million) in investment from various organizations to fund its expansion. The eCommerce platform, closed a Series A round with support from the SANAD Fund for MSME, Aavishkaar, Uncovered Fund and KSK Angel Fund.
The platform offers businesses the ability to open a shop on its platform and sell products from it. It charges businesses a flat rate of 8% per transaction and handles customer service, delivery, and mobile money payments on behalf of the businesses.
Sky.Garden launched in Kenya in 2017 and the company claims to have had its first transaction in May that year. The platform sells different items such as electronics, alcohol, clothes, footwear, hardware, sportswear among others
Commenting on the investment, Martin Majlund, CEO Sky.Garden said, “Sky.Garden’s sole focus is to provide African sellers with best-in-class technology to access and reap the benefits of online commerce. This investment round will allow Sky.Garden to drive impact at scale. I’m looking forward to an exciting new chapter with these great partners pioneering e-commerce with the African entrepreneur in mind.”
With the new funding, Sky.Garden will accelerate its mission to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs on the African continent backed by strategic insights and partners from Japan, India and Europe.
Ashish Patel, Partner Aavishkaar Capital said, “COVID-19 has accelerated the need for the large but highly fragmented and unorganized retail industry in Africa to access the digital economy. Sky.Garden is at the forefront at offering these businesses, transformative tools to fully capitalize on the uniquely African e-commerce opportunity, emerging as one of the leading e-commerce enabling platforms on the continent.”
In 2018, Sky Garden received Ksh. 121 Million ($1.2 Million) in funding from Jesper Drescher, TRK Group based in Norway, The Katapult Accelerator Follow-up Fund, and a syndicate of Danish Business Angels led by Futuristic.vc.