ShopZetu, a lifestyle startup based in Kenya, announced that it has raised $1 million in a pre-seed funding raise in a bid to entrench its brand in the East African market. Chui Ventures spearheaded the seed raise, joined by Launch Africa, Roselake Ventures, and Logos Ventures. Notable angel investors who participated in the funding round include Kendall Tang, CEO of RT Knits; Ben Munoz, co-founder and CEO of Nadine West; Sumit Bhasin from Estée Lauder Inc.; Patricia Ithau, CEO of WPP Scangroup; and Peter Njonjo, co-founder and CEO of Twiga Foods.
Launched in 2021 by Marvin Kiragu, ShopZetu CEO, and Wandia Gichuru, who is also co-founder of the popular Kenyan fashion brand Vivo, ShopZetu aims to become the leading lifestyle platform in East Africa. It intends to use the funds to expand its beauty, skincare, hair and home décor offerings. According to Marvin Kiragu, ShopZetu wants to become a one-stop shop.
The lifestyle startup also plans to trial regional delivery services in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, scaling beyond Kenya; attract international fashion brands, and more than triple the number of vendors on its platform to 1,000.
The ShopZetu marketplace currently hosts a diverse range of over 300 vendors, comprising both prominent and emerging local manufacturers, as well as traders offering imported fashion products. Together, these vendors have listed an impressive inventory of over 20,000 products on the ShopZetu platform.
Even though vendor onboarding is free, ShopZetu makes money by charging the vendors a commission for sales generated on the platform, and for other additional services, including delivery. It provides an array of services to vendors, encompassing content creation, digital marketing, warehousing, last-mile delivery, and returns management. While these services come at a cost, ShopZetu takes significant measures to subsidize them, prioritizing the success of vendors in the online marketplace.
In the last two years, the startup claims it has catered to the needs of over 30,000 customers and successfully sold more than 100,000 products. Notably, since January 2021, they have witnessed a remarkable surge in monthly orders, experiencing a substantial growth rate of over 400%.
According to the CEO, “We believe the market for fashion is huge as clothing is a basic human need. While a big percentage of this is currently serviced by secondhand clothing, we are seeing a gradual shift to new clothing as more affordable options are introduced into the market.”
