Aruwa Capital Management has invested $2.5 million in Taeillo, a Direct-to-consumer (D2C) tech-enabled furniture manufacturer and retailer.
Founded in 2018 by Jumoke Dada, Founder & CEO, Taeillo is a technology-enabled furniture company that locally manufactures and retails mass market and premium Afrocentric furniture and lifestyle products across various product categories, selling directly to its B2C and B2B customers through its e-commerce platform.
Taeillo operates an innovative model through leveraging technology (AR/VR) in its business, providing a seamless shopping experience for customers on its ecommerce platform. Leveraging VR technology, the Company is also able to rapidly expand across regions without incurring additional showroom costs, typical with traditional furniture businesses as they offer virtual showrooms to customers.
Taeillo started out as a custom furniture designer serving its B2B clientele but had to change its strategy to serve B2C customers in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic who who needed locally manufactured high quality, affordable, furniture pieces.
The Company took advantage of this opportunity and pivoted to a D2C business with the launch of the Amakisi table at an affordable price point of ₦29,999/c.$85. The table quickly gained popularity due to its quality, elegant design and affordability, resulting in the Company selling over 1,000 pieces of the Amakisi table in short period of time. Since then, demand for the Company’s furniture has continued to increase rapidly, causing the team to expand into 10 additional product categories and into East Africa, to meet growing demand.
Taeillo is now present in two African countries: Nigeria and Kenya, shipping about 10,000 pieces of furniture to over 5,000 customers in Nigeria and Kenya, with complete ownership of its value chain.
Aruwa Capital Management is a Lagos based, female founded and led, growth equity, impact investment company that invests in rapidly growing companies that either provide essential goods and services to the rapidly growing female economy or businesses that are founded or co-founded by women or have gender diverse teams. It recently closed its first institutional fund, which was oversubscribed, surpassing its target of $20 million.
Jumoke Dada, Founder & CEO of Taeillo has this to say about the investment, “We are excited to partner with Aruwa Capital on our journey and welcome them as equity investors in the business. The Aruwa team has been instrumental in providing strategic guidance and making necessary introductions to facilitate our global growth and expansion plans. This investment by Aruwa Capital will take us closer to our goal of becoming the IKEA of Africa by providing quality, ready-to-assemble, made-in-Africa furniture pieces at an affordable price point for the mass market, while also optimizing our operations, delivery time, and customer experience. We are grateful to the Aruwa Capital team for their belief in our vision.”
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder & Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital, said: “We are thrilled to announce this investment into Taeillo as it aligns with nearly all of our investment objectives. Since inception, the Company has maintained its innovative model in a traditional brick and mortar industry, creating a unique value proposition for its customers in a fast-growing, underserved market. By leveraging technology in its value chain, Taeillo has been able to achieve exponential growth in less than 2 years, achieving results that take traditional furniture companies decades to achieve.
