Klasha closes a $4.5 million seed round with an additional $2.1 million raised

Weeks after launching Klasha 2.0, We are excited to announce that we have raised an additional $2.1 million to complete our $4.5 million seed round. This investment round by American Express Ventures (Amex Ventures) and Global Ventures with participation from Greycroft, Seedcamp, Plug and Play Tech Center, Berrywood Capital and Breega makes Klasha AMEX Ventures’ first African startup investment. We’re excited to work with new investors on our mission to amplify technology solutions for cross-border African commerce. 

With this investment, we will focus on strengthening our cross-border technology solutions and expand into more African countries. Klasha’s core technology allows African consumers to pay international online and offline merchants such as ASOS, Amazon, and BestBuy in African currencies, while the merchants receive payouts in G20 currencies.

Since launching in May 2021, Klasha has over 1700 merchants signed up, has processed over 210,000 transactions, and is growing on average by 20% MoM. In our first year, we have continued to power international businesses with the tools they need to expand into Africa, as we have already processed more than 150,000 transactions across Africa. This continued success is due to Africans’ readiness to enjoy the seamless cross-border transactions experienced by people on other continents and the rapidly developing economies. 

Africa presents vast opportunities for scaling quickly in commerce. There are more than 400 million internet users in Africa, and the total value of e-commerce is expected to reach $29 billion by 2022. Still, the ability to pay online with African money methods, including cards, M-Pesa, bank transfers, and mobile money, is challenging for consumers in the continent. Klasha believes that consumers in Africa should have built technology to facilitate the same frictionless access to the goods they want regardless of their geographic location.

“We look forward to seeing the company’s innovative solutions help open up commerce for African consumers and facilitate cross-border payments,” said Matt Sueoka, global head of Amex Ventures, in a statement. “Klasha has the potential to drive spending by making payments simpler in emerging markets and allows merchants to scale within the continent and abroad.”

Klasha has B2B and B2C solutions dedicated to improving e-commerce in Africa and providing seamless online transactions for users. These products include:

• KlashaCheckout is a technology solution that integrates into any e-commerce platform, website, or app. It allows international merchants to collect payments from Africa in local currencies while the merchant receives the equivalent in their chosen currency. 

• Klasha Payment Links provides a flexible and easy way for offline businesses to collect payments from customers in Africa without needing a website, app, or coding skills. Businesses can create a simple custom checkout page directly from their Klasha Dashboard and share it with their customers with just a few clicks.

• KlashaCart is the in-app shopping cart of Klasha App that allows you to shop all your favourite international brands seamlessly and get delivery to Africa in 14 days. This simply means that with a funded Klasha account, you can visit your favourite brands such as Zara, Amazon, and many more with one cart. Users of Klasha App also enjoy instant transactions via the PINK money, a $5,000 funding limit on the virtual dollar cards, and make local and international payments online in local African currencies without any restrictions and more.  

• KlashaWire makes cross-border transactions seamless and secure. With this feature, small business owners can easily make large payments to suppliers overseas 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. 

The unprecedented growth of Klasha’s technology in the past months is one for the books and has garnered worldwide attention from partners at Greycroft, Seedcamp, and American Express, to mention a few.

With this latest funding influx, Klasha’s commitment to improving commerce for Africans is stronger than ever. We remain committed to simplifying cross-border payments for commerce in Africa and empowering businesses with the tools they need to grow and expand into a market full of energised consumers.