Jumia Group former Executive Vice President Sam Chappatte founded Kapu in January and launched it on Monday, December 5, after gaining Ksh.980 Million ($8 million) in seed funding.
Kapu, is an e-commerce startup shop and a rival of Jumia marketplace in Kenya, specialising in Groceries and aims at making products available both online and offline at a cheaper price of 30% off.
The E-commerce startup is planning to source fresh produce from local agents around city estates, who package directly from producers and manufactures.
Giant Ventures and Firstminute Capital, participated in the funding of Founder Collective, Base Capital, Norrsken and Raven One.
“We think it’s unfair that Kenyans spend 46% of their income on the everyday grocery basket while Americans spend 6%. The grocery basket in Africa is a massive blocker to social mobility and an equally large business opportunity,” Chappate noted on Monday.
He added that the firm’s model is inspired by the Chinese global online retailer Alibaba.
“We’re striving to build the most relevant model of B2C e-commerce for the majority of folks in urban Africa. Inspired by Alibaba’s New Retail and the impact hard discounters like Costco & Aldi have had in US/Europe, we believe there’s a “new retail” model for Africa. If we can crack this, we can sustainably bring down the cost of goods for millions of folks across the Continent,” he added.
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The American technology outlet Tech-Cruch notes that, Once a consumer makes an order with an agent the products will be delivered for free the next day at the agent collection centre.
The company will also be taking group orders to enable the customers to save money by buying supplies at lower prices.
“Customers receive a notification from Kapu and also from the agents, to go pick up their goods. Many agents also deliver to consumers’ homes,” said Chappate.
Kapu says plans to enable order placement via WhatsApp are underway.
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