Two years after raising $14 million, Wasoko, formerly known as Sokowatch, has taken a new step in its development by opening its capital to new investors. The company has completed the largest fundraising for an e-commerce company in Africa.

Kenyan e-commerce company Sokowatch, renamed Wasoko, has reported raising $125 million in Series B funding. The deal, which values the company at $625 million, is presented as the largest of its kind in Africa.

Present in six African markets (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Senegal), the company plans to expand further into West and Southern Africa, while consolidating footprints in its current markets. Daniel Yu, Wasoko's founder, and CEO explained that the company’s choice to expand into the Francophone markets of West Africa lies in the strong growth these countries have shown. Both Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire have experienced solid annual GDP growth over the past 10 years, he said, stressing that “after more than six years of building and constantly iterating on our operations, we are proud to have demonstrated the traction and quality of business required to raise funding from world-class investors. We’re fully focused on leveraging their strategic support to build one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the world and transform access to goods and services for African citizens across every corner of the continent.”

The fundraising comes two years after the company secured $14 million in Series A funding. While expanding in Africa, Wasoko is also exploring opportunities to expand its product offerings to the merchant point of sale systems, bill payments, and social commerce through strategic investments and company acquisitions.

To date, the Kenyan company claims to have delivered nearly 2.5 million orders via its driver network to more than 50,000 consumer product retailers on its platform. Without giving further details, the company reports that its revenues have grown by more than 500% in 2021.

Chamberline Moko