Klasha’s New Funding Fuels Expansion of Simplifying Online Shopping for African Consumers

Klasha, a San Francisco and Lagos-based technology company, is transforming cross-border African commerce that can help merchants globally to reach this fast-growing eCommerce consumer.

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The company announced it raised an additional $2.1 million to complete its $4.5 million seed round.

The funding round included Amex Ventures – its first investment in an African-focused startup. Klasha’s funding round also included Global Ventures, a leading MEA-focused venture capital firm.

“We are delighted to have Amex Ventures’ investment and be backed by Global Ventures – one of the leading venture capital firms in the MEA region.”

Jess Anuna, Founder and CEO of Klasha

“Klasha has the potential to drive spending by making payments simpler in emerging markets and allows merchants to scale within the continent and abroad,” said Matt Sueoka, Global Head of Amex Ventures.

“Klasha’s end-to-end check-out solution is designed specifically for key friction points faced by the African consumer including payment methods, currency acceptance, and a fragmented logistics landscape,” added Sacha Haider, Partner at Global Ventures.

Klasha Helps Global Merchants Access African Consumers More Easily

Klasha will use the proceeds to expand into five more African countries in 2022 and re-launch its consumer app – renamed KlashaCart – to allow African consumers to shop from eligible international merchants online.

Klasha’s core checkout technology benefits consumers and merchants. It allows African consumers to pay international online merchants in African currencies and money methods at checkout and then have their goods shipped to the continent.

Merchants receive payouts in G20 currencies and are empowered to expand into Africa by equipping them with the requisite payment tools, including plugins for popular eCommerce platforms such as BigCommerce, Squarespace, Weebly, Wix, WooCommerce and more.

The latest funding reinforces Klasha’s commitment to improving commerce for Africans and simplifying cross-border payments so that businesses can expand into a market full of energized consumers.

Launched in May 2021 by a team with combined experience at Amazon, PayPal, Mastercard, Shopify and Net-a-Porter, Klasha’s growth has been rapid. In less than a year, the Company has signed up over 1,700 merchants, processed over 210,000 transactions and is experiencing 15% MoM merchant growth.

Klasha’s continued success reflects the substantial market opportunity and readiness of Africans to enjoy the same seamless cross-border transactions experienced internationally, as their economies rapidly develop.

Africa is a vast opportunity for scaling quickly in commerce. It has over 400 million internet users, and the total value of eCommerce is expected to reach $75 billion by 2025.

However, the ability to pay online with African currencies and money methods, including cards, M-Pesa, bank transfers, and mobile money, is challenging for African consumers.

Klasha believes they should have the technology to facilitate the same frictionless access to goods regardless of geographic location.

Klasha Payment Solutions

KlashaCheckout: A checkout that can be integrated into any eCommerce platform, website, or app that allows international merchants to collect payments from Africa in local currencies, while the merchant receives the equivalent payout in their chosen currency.

Payment Links: An easy way for international businesses to collect payments from customers in Africa without needing a website, app, or any coding skills. With just a few clicks, businesses can create a simple custom checkout page directly from their Klasha dashboard and share it with their customers.

KlashaCart: An in-app shopping cart that allows consumers to shop all their online favorite stores at once. This simply means that with a funded Klasha wallet, African shoppers can visit their favorite brands in one click and with one cart. Users can also create virtual dollar cards and pay for subscriptions and services internationally.

KlashaWire: Makes cross-border B2B transactions seamless and secure. With this feature, small business owners can make large payments to suppliers overseas with ease in African currencies while lowering the cost of the transaction directly on the Klasha dashboard. When payments are made, the supplier generally receives it in their dominant currency in three business days.