Grace Ashiru
A new e-commerce company called Bumpa just raised $4 million in its just completed seed funding round.Base 10 Partners led this round, and Plug & Play Ventures commerce fund, SHL Capital, Jedar Capital, Magic Fund, DFS Labs, FirstCheck Africa Angel Program, E62 Ventures, Club14, and Fast Forward Ventures all took part.
In Africa, venture funding has been steadily going down. Still, Bumpa has attracted investors and partners with its bold plan to help one million small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) grow during its next growth phase.
Luci Fonesca, Principal at Base 10 Partners, who led this round of investment, said this about investing in Bumpa at this time in the VC market, “Bumpa is building a mission that we love and are excited to support, enabling e-commerce and reducing friction for millions of small and medium-sized businesses,” said Luci Fonseca, founder, and CEO of Principle.
The more time we spent with Kelvin and Teejay, the more we saw that they are exceptional founders with a strong drive to build the best e-commerce platform in Nigeria and across Africa.
Building Bumpa Dream
Bumpa, which used to be called SalesCabal, was started by Kelvin Umechukwu and Adetunji Opayele in February 2021. They aimed to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Nigeria get affordable and reliable websites.
A Statista report says that Nigeria has 41 million MSMEs, which make up 50% of Nigeria’s GDP. Even so, business owners all over the country face problems every day, such as a lack of trust, payments, technology, marketing, and more.
While Salecabal solved the problem of providing SMEs with an affordable way to begin selling online, the team discovered that the e-commerce space had more significant issues and more promise than anticipated.
Bumpa 1.0
Adetunji and Kelvin made the app’s first version to make it easy for business owners to sell online. They knew the industry and had seen Salescabal do well in the past. The first version of the Bumpa app gave business owners free websites they could set up in 60 seconds. It also helped them manage their businesses by letting them track sales, get paid, work orders and inventory, send bulk SMS and emails to customers, and bring business reports from their mobile devices in any part of the world.
From pre-seed to seed: E-race commerce’s to leave an indelible mark
Last year, Bumpa announced a $200k pre-seed round led by Opeyemi Awoyemi of Fast Forward Venture Studio Fund and included notable VCs and angel investors like Microtraction, OO Nwoye, DFS Labs, Pioneer VC, and more.
A few months later, the Google Black Founder Fund also gave it a grant of $50,000.
These rounds helped the startup hire more people and give users discounts and coupons, custom domain names, Facebook pixel integration, staff accounts, and the ability to pay in more than one currency.
But the most important part didn’t show up until a few months ago. Based on internal data showed that 40% of Bumpa’s sales came from Instagram, the startup integrated with Meta, which owns Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram, among other things. This made it easier for business owners who sell on social media to sell on Instagram.
Bumpa’s claim to be the King of Social Commerce was strengthened by this feature release, which bridged the gap between social media and digital commerce for online sellers.
Bumpa x Meta Integration is Now Live!
Its users can now get Instagram direct messages (DMs) on the Bumpa app, share products, share invoices/receipts, track sales, and ask for payment on Instagram without leaving the Bumpa app.
Since it started, Bumpa has gathered more than 50k small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that use the app’s tools to run their businesses, with 40% of them using it monthly. The company also said it had kept track of more than 400K product listings and $20M orders.
Adetunji, Bumpa’s CTO, said this about their journey from their pre-seed round to their seed round: “We had some success by giving business owners websites and other tools, but when we listened to our customers, we learned that they wanted to do more. What tools can we give them to help them get more customers, make more sales, connect their social media accounts to run ads, and close sales faster? We knew we must do more.”
What will happen with Bumpa 2.0?
With the money it raised and the support of investors and partners who believe in Bumpa’s vision, the startup is looking to expand its product line and add more social commerce solutions for the growing number of small and medium-sized businesses in Africa that need digital solutions..
SMEs will have more control over how they run and grow their business with these features, integrations, and connections.
In the coming months, Bumpa will also bring its product to new markets in Africa. People are guessing which markets will be next, but the team keeps its cards close to its chest.
Along with growing its market, Bumpa will also expand its team, focusing on Marketing, Engineering, and Business roles as it gets ready to help more merchants succeed in business. Those who want to work for the startup should keep an eye on its career page.
CEO Kelvin Umechukwu said this about what Bumpa plans to do: “The goal is to connect, innovate, and grow. For us as a startup, Bumpa 2.0 is about connecting all the tools, channels, and places SMEs need to the Bumpa app.
It is also to develop new ways to do business on the app by making it easier and more automated.
It’s also to grow our users’ businesses and our role as leaders in the African business world. It’s also to develop the skills and reach of our employees and even us, the founders.
You can get the Bumpa app from the Google Play Store and the Apple Store.
