Nigeria’s Jendaya raises $1.2m pre-seed funding to scale its e-commerce platform in Africa

Jendaya, a one-year-old startup that acts as a gateway for global luxury brands to the African continent and for consumers in the rest of the world to discover African brands, is coming out stealth, having raised £1 million (~$1.2 million) in pre-seed funding.

Investors in the pre-seed round include Anu Adedoyin Adasolum, Sabi CEO and several angel investors. The startup has also received financing from Ada VC, actress Maisie Williams and music moguls Bizzle Osikoya and Asa Asika.

From apparel to beauty and home decor to accessories, the e-commerce platform connects African and African diaspora luxury brands with high-end consumers worldwide and African shoppers to global brands.

According to the statement shared by the company, it wants to shine a light on the abundance of talent and storytelling emanating from the region by “positioning African names seamlessly in the same league as seasoned western labels such as Issey Miyake, Lanvin and Givenchy.”

“We wanted to make a platform where Africans on the continent should they want Gucci loafers or Bottega bags, they don’t have to jump through hoops or have a month or few weeks’ delays because they can have that in their hands in some days or a week, so that’s why we started Jendaya,”

Rufai Ayotunde, CEO of Jendaya

In the 13 months since its launch, the year-old e-commerce business has handled around 300 orders. Rufai reveals that the average order value per shopping cart is $350, which is less than a third of the benchmark — often $750 to $1,500 — recorded by popular luxury e-commerce companies.

“Customers are warming up to our platform, and selling luxury online is a different ball game. You need to build credibility, you need to build trust, and consumers need to consistently be aware of the platform and the brands we have,” remarked the chief executive addressing Jendaya’s order value compared to offline stores.

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About Jendaya

Jendaya is a London-based but Africa-focused platform with offices in London, New York, and Lagos. CEO Ayotunde Rufai founded it with co-founders Kemi Adetu (COO), Teni Sagoe (CCO), and David Elikwu (CSO). After frequently serving as a personal shopper for expensive products in the U.K. for family back in Nigeria, the startup was established in December 2021.

Jendaya sponsors a portfolio of firms that includes Brooklyn-based minimalist accessories brand Marty Moto and others that blend heritage into a modern context, notably Kenyan brand Adele Dejak, with an approach that encourages slow fashion, artisan craft, made-to-order luxury items, and developing talent.

Other stand-out brands include Beninese-French silk shirt label Alledjo and burgeoning names such as Casablanca, founded by Morrocan designer Charaf Tajer, finalist of the 2020 LVMH Prize.

“Jendaya is a luxury e-commerce platform for the Global Citizen — Africa included being the most important part because the African citizen is also very global, they’re very metropolitan, well travelled and exposed, they’re tastemakers,” said Rufai of the regular Jendaya shopper.

“So these customers don’t just want Orange Culture, they want to mix the Orange Culture with Versace. They want to mix a Bottega with Valero and Casablancas and other new brands coming out worldwide. These consumers dictate our brand offerings in that sense.”

Jendaya also ships these designer items from Africa, Asia, the U.K., the U.S., and Europe to clients worldwide by partnering with DHL and capitalizing on the logistics giant’s reputation and large network. The U.K., Nigeria, Ghana, and the U.S., representing the richest black and diasporan areas, have seen the most traction for Jendaya.

According to Rufai, the London-based luxury e-commerce site has onboarded up to 70 companies through an invite-only pilot and direct connections with multi-brand boutique partners. Still, he says that number will triple this year. Jendaya thinks doing this will support luxury e-commerce on the continent and help promote more African luxury designers internationally.

The luxury goods market in Africa and the Middle East was worth over $35 billion in 2019, with designer apparel and footwear generating more than $7 billion in retail alone. Behind such transactions is cross-border commerce, where African brands, via personal shoppers, export their items to a global audience. ‘

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The more prominent scenario, however, is the opposite: In this case, African consumers get help from family and friends in the U.S. and U.K. to shop for and ship luxury items to them.

Fashion items are among the most — if not the most — sought-after on many e-commerce platforms. In Africa, for instance, fashion has held the top spot in Jumia for the largest category of items sold over the years. This means there’s no shortage of demand for fashion items across the continent, and the supply is picking up steam even in the high-end categories.

While most e-commerce transactions between African consumers and international businesses have been conducted informally through established connections, numerous platforms have used technology to centralize these operations across multiple price points.

The site also offers B2B services, which have generated around $100,000 in income up to this point, in addition to the e-commerce product. There is Jendaya Editorial, which highlights not only the businesses carried by the platform but also significant historical and seasonal news to motivate a global audience.

Additionally, the startup’s creative firm, Jendaya Labs, lists customers including Casablanca, Ozwald Boateng, Paul Smith, and Burberry, to mention a few. Along with its exclusive focus on luxury goods, Rufai claims that Jendaya distinguishes itself from other larger Afrocentric fashion e-commerce platforms like ANKA in this way.

“The idea is not just African brands to the world, which is one element of what we do, but it’s also global brands to Africa,” the CEO added.