Nigerian logistics startup Fez Supply Raises $1 Million in Seed Funding to increase its attain

Fez Supply, a Lagos-based last-mile logistics startup with hubs all through Nigeria, has  raised $1 million in funding.The funding spherical was led by  pan-African investor Ventures Platform with contributions from Voltron Capital, Acasia Ventures, and a number of other different angel buyers.

In accordance with the corporate’s founder and CEO, Seun Alley, the funds shall be used to increase its attain in Nigeria, which has a $10 billion transport and logistics market.From This fall 2023 on, the startup goals to increase into different African markets, together with Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. The startup additionally intends to extend its advertising efforts, enhance operational effectivity, rent extra workers, a

Fez Supply was fonded in 2020 by Alley, who labored for over a decade in Nigeria’s banking sector and later in startups resembling OPay and Bloc.It was a spin-off from a B2B janitorial service and facet hustle she opened two years prior. Whereas operating the enterprise, Alley acquired a number of complaints from her prospects relating to the janitors: Though they did thorough cleansing within the mornings, they had been primarily absent to hold out the required touch-ups all through the remainder of the day. “We realized that this occurred as a result of the janitors went on a number of errands for our shoppers’ workers. And the rationale for this, we realized, was as a result of a lot of the locations they had been shopping for stuff from didn’t have a dispatch or logistics service.”

Whereas logistics is considered one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing industries, it’s additionally considered one of its most fragmented. The tens of millions of {dollars} invested in startups working in numerous areas, from haulage to the final mile, have but to construct sustainable companies.

In accordance with Alley, startups and small companies nonetheless encounter challenges relating to pricing, attain, and supply occasions within the last-mile class, that are the issues that Fez Supply’s options tackle. Cellular and internet apps can be found for particular person prospects to put and observe orders, handle bills, compile information on particular enterprise factors, and make funds. Alternatively, the startup offers APIs and dashboards to its enterprise shoppers. Fez Supply claims to have greater than 17,000 prospects using its platform, with 70% being people and 30% being SMEs and startups.

Final yr, the startup launched a vertical, FEZ for fintechs, which helped fintechs ship debit playing cards and POS terminals to all of their prospects and brokers all through Nigeria.

  The startup additionally developed a SaaS platform to onboard and confirm educated third-party two-wheeler logistics platforms with fleet sizes of roughly 5 to 10 to assist full orders that it can’t fulfill. These third-party companions share within the income Fez Supply generates by charging people per supply, primarily based on the space lined and the scale of the objects, and companies a month-to-month flat-fee subscription, primarily based on a set vary of deliveries.

Fez Supply accomplished 200,000 journeys final yr and elevated income by 20% month-on-month, in keeping with the assertion. Flutterwave, Kuda Financial institution, Moniepoint, OPay, Purple Bull, and Famasi Africa are amongst its shoppers, the assertion added.

The platform, which is backed by Techstars Toronto, faces competitors in Nigeria, together with Uber, by way of its Uber Join product, Kwik Supply, and Gokada, amongst different upstarts. Nevertheless Fez Supply says it makes use of a hybrid mannequin, which mixes on-demand and hub-and-spoke fashions. “We decide objects from prospects in bulk and take them to a central location the place they’re zoned earlier than assigning them to riders to finish,” she defined. “So I prefer to check with Fez as operating a hybrid mannequin. We’ve the expertise and nonetheless personal 30% of the belongings on our platform.

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