Copia Global, a Kenya-based firm that provides mobile commerce platforms and distributors of goods, said it has raised $50 million from investors to expand into other parts of Africa.
Coopia is one of a group of African start-ups that aims to use information technology to solve issues on the continent, including fragmented and informal retail markets.
According to the company, in the coming months and years, Copia will continue to expand across East Africa and will target market entry in among others Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.
Opia, which serves mid-level and low-income customers in rural Kenya and Uganda, was founded in 2013.
It reaches shoppers who do not have access to formal retailers like supermarket chains through mobile technologies, a network of over 25,000 agents – small shopkeepers who accept orders and deliver goods – and its own logistics facilities.
Copia said in a statement that Goodwell Investments led the Series C funding round. Other investors included Lightrock, DEG, and a U.S. agency called International Development Finance Corporation.
Copia has now raised $83.5 million in total. The company raised $33.5 million in funding rounds between 2015 and 2019.
Copia said that there are millions of consumers who are not served by formal retailers throughout the continent.
It didn’t provide a valuation of the company.
“Copia can deliver to the most remote locations, even in places with poor road infrastructure or lack of addresses, at no additional cost to the customer,” the firm said, adding that urban residents can use the service to shop on behalf of their relatives upcountry.
