Afrigather Social commerce is a fast-growing sector, notably on the African continent. Over 384 million Africans use social media, and there are over 281 million online shoppers on the continent. The market is predicted to develop by 70.3% yearly to achieve US$8 billion in 2022 and report a compound annual progress charge of 55.2% between 2022–2028, based on the Q1 2022 Social Commerce Survey.
One startup benefiting from the social commerce increase is Nigerian social commerce firm, Bumpa. Based in 2021 by Kelvin Umechukwu and Adetunji Opayele, Bumpa was created after the duo labored collectively on HostCabal, a internet hosting firm.
As web utilization spreads throughout the continent, the attract of social commerce grows, notably for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) throughout Africa. Mediums like Fb, Whatsapp, and Instagram assist these small companies appeal to prospects conveniently and with minimal overhead prices. For the 44 million SMEs scattered across Africa, these social media platforms have modified the way in which they work together with prospects.
Umechukwu and Opayele received a eager understanding of the social commerce house in Africa whereas they had been creating customized e-commerce web sites for entrepreneurs with HostCabal, and with the arrival of the lockdown and the ensuing slowdown of enterprise for SMEs throughout the globe, demand for his or her product grew quickly. That demand spurred them to construct an organization.
That firm—Bumpa—has now raised a $4 million seed spherical led by Base10 Companions, with participation from Plug & Play Ventures, SHL Capital, Magic Fund, Jedar Capital, DFS Labs, FirstCheck Africa Angel Program, E62 Ventures, Membership 14 and Quick Ahead Ventures.
Umechukwu mentioned that for this seed spherical, Bumpa selected buyers who had been fascinated about e-commerce and retail automation in Africa.
On a name with TechCabal, Kelvin Umechukwu, co-founder and CEO of Bumpa, mentioned that Bumpa has over 50,000 small companies on its platform. Umechukwu additionally shared that these companies have gone on to report over 200,000 orders and commerce a gross merchandise worth of $20 million. He added that his proudest achievement with Bumpa got here when a consumer crossed 10,000 orders on Bumpa and grew from 15 orders weekly to 200 orders weekly.
Bumpa initially began out by serving to companies handle stock, interact their prospects, and report gross sales. However now, they wish to go a step additional and assist these small companies join all the things, based on Umechukwu. “With Bumpa, we’re serving to enterprise homeowners organise all of the commerce that’s occurring on their social media. They will see their high prospects. They will see how a lot they’re making on every of those social media platforms, like Instagram. They will gather all of the information, they usually can promote quicker via direct messaging (DMs) and request for funds as a result of we introduced the entire commerce instruments proper there for them of their DMS whereas chatting with a buyer.” Bumpa at present estimates that it may well assist its customers save 25 hours every week, Umechukwu added.
Bumpa makes use of a fee and subscription enterprise mannequin. The startup prices commissions on every on-line transaction and launched a subscription product after integrating with Meta in August. Customers can nonetheless entry Bumpa without spending a dime, however they are going to be restricted to solely 25 merchandise and 50 orders monthly.
The social commerce startup house in Nigeria has seen loads of exercise in current occasions, with fintechs like Paystack and Flutterwave launching storefronts for small companies, and startups like Catlog and Simpu all offering options for SMEs that wish to promote their merchandise on-line. Bumpa’s aggressive benefit, based on Umechukwu, stems from its emphasis on retail automation and optimization of knowledge and stock for its shoppers. He added that Bumpa’s integration with Meta in August and an upcoming integration with Google Enterprise in November can even assist separate Bumpa from the remainder.
Talking on the elevate, Luci Fonseca, Principal at Base10 Companions, mentioned, “Bumpa is constructing a mission that we love and had been excited to get behind, enabling e-commerce and decreasing friction for tens of millions of SMBs. The extra we frolicked with Kelvin and Teejay, the extra we noticed that they’re very particular founders and have a robust mission to construct the defining e-commerce platform in Nigeria and throughout Africa.”
George Damouny, Companion at Plug and Play Ventures, added, “With their intuitive mobile-first consumer expertise, Bumpa is leapfrogging how small retailers transact and supply a significant expertise to prospects. Kelvin and Teejay have constructed a sticky product and we’re excited to again the group on their mission to reinvent commerce for retailers throughout Africa.”
