Nigerian fashion and beauty social e-commerce platform MAKA raises $2.65M
The $2.65 million pre-seed round has been raised by MAKA, the Nigerian e-commerce platform for fashion and beauty. Prominent investors Janngo and 4DX Ventures co-led the venture, with additional support from Palm Drive Capital. Interestingly, Wolt executives and former EVP and founding member of Twitch Jonathan Shipman are among the angel investors in the round.
Founded in 2021 by CEO Diana Owusu-Kyereko, MAKA is an interactive social commerce platform that allows people to find products that are scalable and personalized to their individual styles through live try-on hauls, reviews, and user-generated content from both creators and customers.
Following the outbreak, Owusu-Kyereko struggled to find inspiration for inclusive fashion; as a result, friends started pointing her toward popular websites and influencers. She started MAKA because she saw a gap in the market and a lack of diversity in style advice. To date, the app has received over 554k downloads.
Africa’s e-commerce sector offers fashion firms a mostly unexplored opportunity due to the continent’s rapidly growing millennial and Gen Z population, who account for 1.1 billion of the continent’s total e-commerce users. E-commerce has become more and more popular in Africa over the last several years. In 2017, 13% of all Africans were active, paying consumers; by 2021, that number had increased to 28%, or 334 million users. The fashion industry in Africa has developed more quickly as a result of this quick growth, giving firms access to a larger consumer base throughout the continent.
MAKA’s social commerce approach, which is based on producers and consumers working strategically together, takes advantage of this booming sector and mirrors the increasing trend of influencer-inspired purchasing.
MAKA tackles important problems in the African e-commerce industry. There are few local clothing labels available, giving customers little choices that complement their fit and taste. Shopping in person is still unpleasant and constrained, and individuals are constantly exposed to tailored content on social media feeds. Additionally, the fragmented internet shopping landscape makes it difficult to find and trust new brands.
MAKA distinguishes itself from fragmented, established platforms by combining information and commerce. “We believe that everyone should be able to easily discover their style, feel represented, and express their individuality. African e-commerce deserves better.” With the help of our team of professionals and our technology, customers are not only empowered but also free to browse and buy from reputable brands with confidence. remarked Diana Owusu-Kyereko, CEO and co-founder of MAKA.
“Today’s youth confront a common conundrum: they want choice and individuality without being duped, but they also want for authenticity and the ability to establish their own trends. Our goal is still to give people a genuine platform to develop their own style and to give content creators the tools they need to share their work and reach new audiences. Our goal is to promote deep relationships between producers and consumers. She continued.
