Betastore is a D2B retail marketplace for informal retailers that plans to launch in Nigeria, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.
According to reports, 80 percent of household retail in Sub-Saharan Africa is delivered through informal retailers, who face several challenges such as stock-outs, which eventually leads to earnings instability, and does not appeal to financiers. After raising $2.5 million in pre-series A funding, the startup plans to expand into other markets like Ghana, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Loyal VC, 500 Global, and VestedWorld provided funding. It has also expressed a desire to expand into 100 cities and strengthen the technology and leadership team to renew and improve the products produced.
"Our technology enables retailers to order on demand, access a variety of products, and solve logistics headaches. With Beta store, they don't have to close their shops to go get goods from distributors stores or the market, and do not have to lose close to half of the margins in the logistics," said Dakayi-Kamga, who previously worked for Jumia, where he was the head of logistics, warehousing, and marketplace fulfilment.
Following a pilot program involving 200 retailers last year, the Beta store plans to launch financing in July. Its technology is currently being integrated into financial networks. Retailers can also use the Beta store wallet to repay loans, deposit funds, save and receive funds, and distinguish between personal and business funds.
The startup claims to have grown 10 to 12 times. It expects to grow even more after expanding into new countries and rolling out its buy now and pay later (BNPL), which was valued at $380 billion in 2021 and contributed 20-50 percent of the region's GDP on average.
"What is important for us is to continue to scale by leveraging our asset-light model. We plan to enter new markets before the end of the year and expand to 100 cities across Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal. We are also planning to reinforce our technology and leadership teams, bring in new products, and improve existing ones," said Beta store CEO Steve Dakayi-Kamga, who co-founded the startup with Leo-Armel Tchoudjang in mid-2020.
About BetaStore
BetaStore provides informal retailers with better access to goods at wholesale prices, delivers to their stores, and can help with working capital. In Africa, the wholesale and retail market is worth $270 billion, and more than 90 percent of sales are made through informal channels. With BetaStore, retailers no longer need to close their stores in order to go to open markets and visit tens of suppliers to source basic goods. Second, they don't have to purchase more inventory than necessary to get good prices. Finally, by doing business with them, we can more accurately assess their risk profile, provide tailored payment options, and make them available to commercial lenders.
