Shamba Pride has raised $1.1 million to support its expansion across the country and to launch its solution to over 1,000 shops.
Shamba Pride is a Kenyan agri-tech startup company that offers one-stop online to offline tools and technology to agricultural input distributors by providing them with the requisite skills to offer quality products, services, and information to their farmers.
The agri-tech startup also offers smallholder farmers and village-level farmers access to improved quality inputs, educational information, financial services, and market insights and connections through their women and youth-owned Digishops powered by technology.
The startup company raised its $1.1 million funding investment from Seedstars Africa Ventures and Gray Matter Capital. The fund will enable the company to reach larger markets by empowering hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers to boost their revenue and increase productivity.
The chief executive officer (CEO) and founder Samuel Munguti said by transitioning from traditional and informal to technological trading Shamba Pride is revolutionizing rural distribution channels for African farmers.
Existing last-mile agro dealer businesses can use Shamba Pride to digitalize their operations and provide excellent products and services to smallholder farmers at an affordable price.
The approach creates a network of informed micro-entrepreneurs who serve the smallholder farmer community, helping them to boost agricultural productivity, keep their jobs, and increase their household income.
“We are excited to have Seedstars Africa Ventures and Gray Matters Capital join the Shamba Pride family. Our momentum to revolutionize last-mile distribution systems for African farmers has gained new momentum. The investment will propel our national growth to service hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers while creating a reliable community of smart micro-entrepreneurs offering improved services to farmers,” said Samuel.
According to Maxime Bouan, a partner at Seedstars Africa Ventures, talented African early-stage entrepreneurs continue to face funding challenges despite offering concrete tailored solutions.
“We are convinced Shamba Pride’s online-to-offline model is perfectly suited to tap into a huge market opportunity by upskilling existing value chains and finally offering farmers the quality counterparts they deserve. Beyond capital, we will continue to actively support the company through additional market linkages and corporate partnerships within Africa and beyond to guarantee farmers obtain the best value,” he further stated.
