Sukhiba Connect, a social commerce platform operating in Kenya, is set to expand beyond Kenya after raising $1.5 million in a funding round led by CRE investment, with the participation of Antler, EQ2 ventures, Goodwater Capital, Chandaria Capital and a number of angel investors.
Founded in 2021 by Ananth Gudipati (CEO) & Abhinav Solipuram (CTO) and initially launched as a community commerce platform, Sukhiba Connect was one of the startups that participated in the class 7 of Google for Startups Accelerator Africa in 2022. The asset-heavy model was so capital intensive that the startup was forced o pivot mid last year to conversational commerce.
Sukhiba has developed a business-to-business (B2B) conversational commerce solution allowing businesses to engage and sell to their customers via WhatsApp. Sellers can utilise this tool to handle orders, process local payment methods such as M-Pesa, dispatch notifications, and categorize their customers. Additionally, buyers can view product listings, modify their shopping carts, and finalize purchases all within WhatsApp.
So far, the startup says it has enabled WhatsApp commerce for over 30 firms, with the majority being prominent manufacturers and distributors catering to nearly 15,000 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), including retailers.
Gudipati mentioned that manufacturers employ Sukhiba to expand the reach of their predominantly offline sales teams and acquire new clients. Additionally, Sukhiba has introduced features allowing manufacturers to categorize customers based on routes, which are then delegated to sales representatives for specialized in-app assistance.
