Ivorian E-Commerce Startup Afrikrea Raises USD 1 Million to Grow Its Online Commerce Platform

Afrikrea, an Ivorian e-commerce startup has secured funding worth USD 1 million from Saviu, Showroomprive, and Id4 Ventures to assist in the development of its online commerce platform.

The startup had some months ago landed USD 65k for ending in the top ten at the inaugural Africa Netpreneur Prize sponsored by China’s richest man and Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, bringing the startup’s total funding to around USD 2 Mn.

Afrikrea is a marketplace for African-made, handcrafted fashion, art, and fabrics. According to reports, the Abidjan based startup affirmed that it has made sales of over USD 5 Million across more than 6,000 shops in 101 countries and grown to a community of 300,000 users.

The startup makes available free spaces with advanced products and transaction management tools to sellers. It also provides guidance and support to its clients on how to grow their ventures globally.

Afrikrea also helps build links with buyers through its messaging system, which it claims records over 30,000 messages every month.

The startup makes its money from commissions on sales and from other offerings like promotions and visibility on the website or its social network community are also earning channels.

The startup is focused on drawing global awareness with its infrastructure for the African culture. As part of steps to actualize this, the company has partnered with global logistics company, DHL to enable sellers from any country to ship worldwide.

Afrikrea’s co-founder and CEO, Moulaye Taboure said, “We intend to share our infrastructure to all sellers aiming to export and build sustainable companies on Africa’s biggest assets: its people and culture,”