ShopEX, a Nigerian multi-channel retail company, has received $400,000 in pre-seed funding from Cape Town venture capital firm HAVAC for expansion.
The investment is part of a $635,000 convertible note round alongside existing angel investors, bringing the total investment to $885,000, with previous participation from EchoVC and Expert Media Partners.
This latest round of funding will allow ShopEx to expand its workforce, brand, product agreements, inventory, and operations into new markets, including Ghana.
ShopEX, which was founded in 2018, aims to bring teleshopping into Nigerians’ daily lives by providing direct-to-consumer live shopping experiences.
In Nigeria and other African markets, the company markets, sells, and distributes some of the world’s most successful ‘As Seen On TV’ products, including Nutri-Bullet, Copper Chef, Power XL, Dream by Genie, Myfit Jeans, and Contour Pillow, through a combination of traditional and digital channels.
ShopEx, founded by CEO Isi Abebe and advised by Expert Media Partners (EMP), digitizes and integrates the consumer journey across multiple channels or platforms, ranging from television to Instagram, to increase customer engagement and sales conversions.
“The debut of ShopEx corresponds nicely with expanding e-commerce and maturing logistics and payment infrastructures throughout Africa. These are critical elements in delivering a genuinely omnichannel experience,” Abebe stated.
Integrations with top last-mile partners improve the fulfillment process by enabling nationwide, 24-hour delivery.
To ensure success, the technology monitors revenue, media spending, sales agent data, inventory, customer engagement, transactions, fulfillment, and logistics on a continuous basis.
ShopEx is well-positioned to capitalize on Africa’s rapidly expanding e-commerce sector, which is being boosted by high mobile phone penetration rates and social media growth.
The company aspires to be Africa’s QVC, going beyond transactional e-commerce or traditional brick-and-mortar stores to offer customers exciting live shopping experiences.
Customers can expect new initiatives in the near future, according to Olajumoke Kujero, ShopEX Country Manager and former Jumia Chief Marketing Officer.
“We are overjoyed to receive this support from HAVAIC; it is a vote of confidence in our efforts to create Africa’s first genuinely omni-channel shopping experience spanning digital and traditional media,” he said.
“With exciting initiatives like our soon-to-be-launched ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ program and several continuing retail and affiliate relationship discussions in the works, our consumers can expect to get the absolute best value for money spent on the high-quality, globally acclaimed products we offer.”
“ShopEx has the experience and network to capitalize on perhaps one of Africa’s most untapped retail prospects,” said Ian Lessem, Managing Partner of HAVAC.