Logistics startup Bwala Africa aims to raise up to $8 mn in Series A funding

October 14, 2019: Bwala Africa, a Nairobi-based last-mile logistics startup has secured a deal with an undisclosed European tech firm to develop a new tech platform for the startup. The deal is valued at $800,000. The deal comes as Bwala Africa opens its Series A round to investors. The startup aims to raise between $5 million and $8 million and is in talks with various venture capital and private equity firms.

Bwala founder and CEO Kennedy Nyabwala told Ventureburn that the Series A funding will be used to finance the expansion of its operations to Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania as well as to hire more staff.

The investor in Bwala Africa in its latest deal will assist in the development and deployment of tech platforms like shipping apps which it said will enable it to scale its apps capacity.

Founded in 2017, the startup explained that the in-house app it uses for the last-mile operation has been limiting its ability to scale operations.

"We have made over 100,000 last mile order fulfilments and with our new apps, which should go live by January 2020.

Currently, Bwala claims that it completes between 700 - 850 shipments a day with clients that range from e-commerce firms, manufacturers and retailers. Nyabwala said this latest investment will enable the startup to sustain over 10,000 transactions at any given time without having any challenges or downtime.

He said Bwala now aims to make between 6,000 and 8,000 drops a day and to have over 2,000 registered agents in Kenya who will assist with the placement of orders and recruitment of new last-mile partners.

Bwala was accepted into Bosch and Founders Factory smart mobility accelerator programme which starts in Johannesburg on November 5.

Earlier this year, Bwala raised an undisclosed amount in an equity investment deal with Silicon Valley angel investor Justin Caldbeck which saw him join the startup as a board member.

Prior to Caldbeck's investment, Nyabwala said at the time the startup had raised $250 000 in funding. Last September, Bwala Africa Group secured a loan of 24 million Kenyan shillings ($238,000) from Kenyan bank Stanbic Holdings.