Kenyan social commerce startup Sukhiba Connect has successfully raised a $1.55 million seed extension round, almost a year after initially securing $1.5 million in seed funding aimed at expanding beyond the East African region. The recent round was led by EQ2 Ventures, with further investments coming from Accion Venture Lab, Musha Ventures, Quona Capital , and existing backer CRE Ventures. Sukhiba Connect plans to utilize this new influx of capital to accelerate its growth across Africa and into other emerging markets.
Founded by Ananth Raj Gudipati and Abhinav Reddy in 2021, Sukhiba Connect is a conversational commerce and CRM platform that operates on WhatsApp. Aimed at emerging markets, the platform assists medium and large enterprises in boosting their sales and customer retention through WhatsApp.
Sukhiba Connect has introduced a B2B conversational commerce tool designed to help businesses connect with and sell directly to customers via WhatsApp. According to the Global Web Indexs 2020 Social Media User Trends Report, a staggering 97% of internet users in Kenya use WhatsApp monthly. By January 2024, a survey revealed that WhatsApp and TikTok were the most popular social media platforms in Kenya.
Capitalizing on these trends, Sukhiba Connects conversational commerce and CRM platform uses WhatsApp as its primary operating system, tailoring its offerings-such as sales, marketing, customer service, and payment solutions-around the WhatsApp framework.
Sukhiba Connect offers a comprehensive solution for sellers, allowing them to efficiently manage orders, accept payments through local methods like M-Pesa, send notifications, and organize customer groups. Meanwhile, buyers benefit from the convenience of browsing product catalogs, adding or removing items from their shopping carts, and completing purchases, all directly through WhatsApp.
