Kenyan startup Digiduka, which enables informal retailers to trade online, has launched in Nairobi. Its platform allows retailers to collect payments from customers via mobile app or USSD shortcode, and to get their products for sale online.
Digiduka, which completed a seed fund round of £100,000, joins several other payment platforms in Kenya helping to modernise traditional retail. These include OpenFloat, PesaKit, PesaPoint and Tanda. Digiduka claims to have signed up more than 3,500 merchants to its platform, 80% of which are in Nairobi. Ultimately, Digiduka plans to offer its merchants an online storefront that enables them to handle payments, stock control and delivery. So far it says it has transacted $200,000 on its platform.
Within the next three years, the company plans to expand across East Africa and into Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It is also looking at entering Ghana, where one of its cofounders is from.
Digiduka’s seedfunding round was led by Antler, a Kenyan early-stage venture capital firm. Antler has also invested in ChapChapGo, another Kenyan start up. ChapChapGo, which operates in the Nairobi area, is an online platform allowing customers and informal retailers to order from a pre-defined range of FMCG products via WhatsApp. Under the slogan “Ultrafast Delivery”, it aims to deliver within one hour for a fee of KSh200 ($1.84) and a minimum order value of KSh1,100 ($10.1).
