Shamba Pride, a Kenyan agri-tech startup, has raised US$1.1 million in funding from Seedstars Africa Ventures and Gray Matters Capital to assist its countrywide expansion and distribution of its digital solution to more than 1,000 digitalized shops.
Shamba Pride is an all-in-one online-to-offline network that connects smallholder farmers to high-quality inputs, services, and information via technology-enabled “DigiShops.”
“Shamba Pride is changing traditional and informal methods into contemporary trade, revolutionizing rural distribution channels for African farmers.” Existing last-mile agro dealer businesses can use Shamba Pride to digitalize their operations and provide excellent products and services to smallholder farmers at an affordable price. “The strategy creates a network of smart micro-entrepreneurs serving the smallholder farmer community, helping farmers to boost agricultural productivity, maintain employment, and increase their household income,” stated Samuel Munguti, CEO and creator.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Seedstars Africa Ventures and Gray Matters Capital to the Shamba Pride team.” Our efforts to revolutionize African farmers’ last-mile distribution infrastructure have received new traction. The investment will let us reach hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers across the country, while also establishing a reliable community of clever micro-entrepreneurs who can provide better services to them.”
Despite providing concrete adaptive solutions, talented African early-stage businesses, according to Maxime Bouan, partner at Seedstars Africa Ventures, continue to lack investment.
“We believe Shamba Pride’s online-to-offline strategy is ideal for capitalizing on a massive market opportunity by upskilling existing value chains and ultimately providing farmers with the quality counterparts they deserve.” We will continue to actively support the company through further market linkages and corporate collaborations within Africa and beyond, in addition to providing financing, to ensure farmers receive the best value,” he said.
With this new funding, the company will be able to help hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers raise their income and productivity by providing better quality inputs, education, financial services, and market connections.
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