South African grocery delivery startup Yebo Fresh raises 4.5m pre-Series A funding to fuel expansion

South African grocery delivery startup Yebo Fresh raises 4.5m pre-Series A funding to fuel expansion

Published: 06-02-2023 15:15:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 3485 | Tags:

Yebo Fresh, a South African grocery delivery startup has raised $4.5m in a pre-series A equity funding round.

The pre-series A investment was led by Enza Capital with participation from Swiss Impact investors Elea Foundation, and Harvest, the local investment fund of the prestigious international Endeavor entrepreneurs. Additional re-investments have also been secured from current investors including E4EAFrica, Yebo Fresh’s largest investor. Private investment vehicle Simple Capital was the lead advisor on the deal.

Jessica Boonstra, CEO, Yebo Fresh: ''This funding will allow us to grow into new product categories and market segments, expand our systems and warehousing infrastructure, and explore further partnership opportunities with strategic players in the market. It will also assist us in gathering even more data insights, further strengthening our unique position in this massive market segment.''

Jessica founded Yebo Fresh in 2018 and hopes to use the physical and digital spaces as avenues to turn around delivery in South African townships.

Small businesses make their orders via WhatsApp or through the Yebo Fresh team of field sales agents. This helps to streamline the purchasing process and make it faster for orders to be fulfilled. The average turnaround time is 24 hours. The startup also offers a buy-now-pay-later option. This service leverages customer insights and algorithms and opens the door to informal businesses that do not currently have access to formal loans.

John Lazar, General Partner, Enza Capital: ''We are thrilled to back the exceptional Yebo Fresh team. They are fundamentally changing the way essential goods are provided to the township market, an underserved but vibrant and growing segment of the South African economy.''

www.yebofresh.co.za