The Kenyan-based social commerce enterprise, Sukhiba Connect, has recently announced the successful acquisition of an additional $1.55 million in seed funding. This financial boost comes nearly twelve months subsequent to its initial seed funding round, where it raised $1.5 million. The purpose of this capital infusion is to facilitate Sukhiba Connect’s strategic expansion beyond the confines of East Africa.
The latest funding round was spearheaded by EQ2 Ventures, with significant contributions from a consortium of investors including Accion Venture Lab, Musha Ventures, Quona Capital, and the returning investor CRE Ventures. This influx of capital is earmarked for propelling Sukhiba Connect’s growth ambitions across the African continent and into other nascent markets.
Sukhiba Connect was established in 2021 by entrepreneurs Ananth Raj Gudipati and Abhinav Reddy. The startup has carved out a niche for itself by creating a platform that integrates conversational commerce and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities within WhatsApp. This innovative platform is tailored to serve the needs of medium to large-sized enterprises, empowering them to bolster their sales and customer retention metrics through the popular messaging app.
The company has crafted a business-to-business (B2B) tool that harnesses the power of conversational commerce, enabling businesses to engage with customers and conduct sales directly through WhatsApp. This strategic move is backed by compelling data from the Global Web Index’s 2020 Social Media User Trends Report, which indicates that a staggering 97% of Kenya’s internet users access WhatsApp on a monthly basis. Further reinforcing the platform’s relevance, a survey from January 2024 found WhatsApp and TikTok to be the most widely used social media platforms in Kenya.
In leveraging WhatsApp as its core operating system, Sukhiba Connect has adeptly tailored its suite of services to integrate seamlessly with WhatsApp’s infrastructure. These services encompass a range of functions including sales, marketing, customer support, and payment processing, all designed to optimize the user experience within the context of emerging markets.
Sukhiba Connect provides a comprehensive solution for merchants to streamline their sales processes, including order management, processing payments via popular local methods such as M-Pesa, distributing notifications, and categorizing their customer base. On the consumer side, the platform offers a seamless shopping experience, allowing customers to explore product offerings, adjust their shopping carts, and finalize transactions, all within the familiar interface of WhatsApp.
The platform boasts remarkable scalability, thanks to its compatibility with a variety of payment systems and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools, including well-known names like SAP, ERPNext, Shopify, and WooCommerce. This adaptability ensures that Sukhiba Connect can cater to a broad spectrum of business requirements.
Sukhiba Connect is strategically positioned to close the communication and transaction gap between brands, manufacturers, distributors, and consumers in burgeoning markets, capitalizing on the widespread use of WhatsApp.
The recent influx of seed extension funding is a pivotal point for the company, as articulated by Gudipati. This financial boost is set to propel the expansion of their operations and the refinement of their SaaS offering, aiming to more effectively meet the needs of their expanding roster of clients, which includes manufacturers, distributors, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands.
In the time since its initial seed funding in 2023, Sukhiba Connect has seen impressive growth. The company has expanded its footprint to eight different markets across Africa and India, establishing partnerships with prominent manufacturers, distributors, large retail chains, and D2C brands, demonstrating a strong growth trajectory for the platform.
Currently, more than 35,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are utilizing Sukhiba Connect to procure goods and services via its network of merchant partners. In the previous year, the startup enabled WhatsApp-based commerce for over 30 prominent firms, encompassing key manufacturers and distributors. These companies collectively cater to close to 15,000 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which include retail businesses.
Furthermore, Sukhiba Connect has set its sights on becoming the leading customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force automation platform in emerging markets. It aims to outpace other social commerce contenders such as Kapu and MarketForce’s product Chpter, positioning itself at the forefront of the industry.
