Grace Ashiru
Nigerian e-commerce platform Bumpa and Kenyan commerce platform Flowcart have received undisclosed funding from Jobtech Alliance, according to announcements from the organizations.
Jobtech Alliance is an ecosystem-building initiative around inclusive jobtech in Africa steered by Mercy Corps and BFA Global, according to organizational information. The alliance was launched in October 2022, according to reports.
The investments follow a landscape scan conducted by Jobtech Alliance on digital services for microenterprises across Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the announcement.
The research found that for the 80% of Africans whose livelihoods run through MSMEs, the constraint is not customers but operations, according to the alliance’s findings.
Bumpa provides digital tools for micro-retailers to manage sales, track inventory, receive payments, and run their businesses through mobile-first interfaces, according to the company description.
Flowcart is an AI-powered conversational commerce and CRM platform built on WhatsApp, according to the company description. The platform focuses on digitizing supply and distribution for small retailers, according to company information.
“Flowcart does this at the supply and distribution layer; Bumpa does it at the point of sale,” according to Jobtech Alliance’s statement.
The alliance’s research highlighted that micro-merchants struggle with fragmented logistics, informal workflows, and reliance on conversational commerce, according to the findings.
Bumpa has raised a total of $4.2 million over 2 funding rounds, according to company records. The company raised a $4 million seed round in October 2022 led by Base10 Partners, according to reports.
The Jobtech Alliance’s approach prioritizes supporting ventures that introduce structure to existing informal commercial behaviors rather than attempting to replace them with entirely new marketplace models, according to the alliance’s investment philosophy.
