Powered by People, a Kenyan e-commerce platform announced that it has raised $5million in a funding round led by Susa Ventures and Golden Ventures. Other participants in the round include Flexport Ventures, J Ventures, and the founders of DraftKings, Fabric.
The same company raised $1.5 million in seed funding about a year ago.
Founded by CEO Ella Peinovich, Hedvig Alexander and Alison Phillips in 2019, Powered by People enables independent, diverse makers and brands by providing access to markets, financing, and digital tools. The platform offers online tools, financing solutions, and a B2B marketplace to small and medium-sized enterprises in the creative manufacturing and handmade items sector.
According to Ella Peinovich on the equity investment, “we are going to continue building up our technology…we have new vendor tools we are launching this quarter that will help streamline and automate things to help these businesses take on bigger orders and grow. We are also investing in building our senior leadership.”
Powered by People currently works with over 200 brands and over 45,000 artisans from 47 countries, who sell to retailers like West Elm and The Citizenry, across major markets including in North America and Asia. The business recorded an annualized run rate of $15 million in total gross merchandise value by mid-March, and they expect to grow this to $25 million before the year ends. Orders on the platform average $1,200.
In a discussion with Techcrunch, PBP says it has extended up to 50% advance financing to traders helping them to quickly process customer orders. The 120-day facility attracts a 5% interest rate. The startup has already given out $5.8 million in credit to traders and plans to issue an additional $10 million before the end of the year.
Powered by People is also creating regional hubs to ensure quicker order deliveries, tapping the opportunities in drop-ship e-commerce
