Topship, a Lagos-based logistics startup helping African businesses to export and import goods worldwide, have closed a $2.5m seed round to improve their technology and fuel growth.
The round was led by Y Combinator, Flexport (the world’s leading digital freight forwarding company), Soma Capital, Starling Ventures, Olive Tree Capital, True Capital, Capital X, and many angel investors, including Mercury’s founder and CEO Immad Akhund and Dropbox’s co-founder Arash Ferdowsi.
This new investment brings Topship’s total funding raised till date to $2.8 million, having raised $300, 000 pre-seed in March last year.
Topship, founded by Moses Enenwali, started as an Instagram business that helped customers send parcels across the world. But last year, in March, it began to morph into a full-blown import-export tech company. Today, it has a web app that allows merchants and individuals to book door-to-door shipments. It has also extended its shipping offerings from just parcels to include cargos and freight to and from anywhere in the world.
When the startup got into YC this January, the CEO told TechCabal that they are experimenting and arriving at different iterations of their solution. He also said they are “building Flexport for Africa” and thus following the shipping giant’s blueprint. Its direction in product and business model since then has mirrored that of the logistic giant.
“Our mission to make the shipping experience in Africa as easy and stress-free as booking an Uber ride has brought us significant growth and valuable first-hand lessons that we could have never learned by being on the sidelines,” the company said in a statement sent to TechCabal.
The company said, in the past quarter, they have served 1,000+ merchants, primarily made up of small and medium businesses (SMBs) and recorded 50% month-on-month revenue growth.
“With this seed capital, we intend to grow fast and remain asset-light,” the company said in its statement.
The company also said this new cash injection will help them invest in increasing strategic partnerships and product innovation tailored to each shipping problem they have identified through daily interactions with their customers.
Topship attributes a chunk of its growth to investors’ growing interest in retail, e-commerce, and social commerce businesses.
