Kenyan agtech startup Shamba Pride secures $3.7M funding to expand merchant network | GVS
Summary
Shamba Pride, an agtech company based in Kenya, has been working since 2016 to improve last-mile distribution for farm inputs and address price exploitation and quality issues for farmers. The company has developed a merchant network called digishops, which has grown to include 2,700 agro-dealers across 24 counties in Kenya.With the aim of covering more retailers and agricultural regions in Kenya, Shamba Pride plans to scale its operations further into the country over the next year. Additionally, the company plans to explore neighboring markets such as Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, which also face similar challenges in their farm input supply chains, including sourcing, unpredictable prices, quality issues, and stockouts.Shamba Prides expansion efforts in Kenya will be supported by a $3.7 million debt-equity pre-series A funding round. This funding follows a previous capital raise of $1.1 million in 2021 from SAV and Gray Matters Capital.Shamba Pride leverages technology to digitize agro-dealers, enabling them to streamline tasks such as business management and inventory ordering. Weve been proud to support a scalable model which creates additional revenues for farmers and agrovets (agro-dealers) and strongly contributes to successful women entrepreneurship, said Maxime Bouan, a general partner at Seedstars Africa Ventures (SAV).Seedstars Africa Ventures (SAV) is a sector-agnostic fund that focuses on startups addressing basic needs such as education, healthcare, and utilities, or enhancing goods, services, and efficiency.Through its innovative approach and commitment to empowering farmers and agro-dealers, Shamba Pride is revolutionizing the agricultural landscape in Kenya and beyond.