Kenyan e-commerce startup, Sky.Garden has raised $4 million round of Series A funding

Kenyan e-commerce startup Sky.Garden has closed a US$4 million round of Series A funding to accelerate its growth

The funding round was led by SANAD Fund for MSME, Aavishkaar, UNCOVERED FUND, and KSK Angel Fund, the latter of which was created by former AC Milan footballer, Keisuke Honda.

Launched in May 2017, SkyGarden is an eCommerce platform built for African businesses. Since its launch, thousands of stores in Kenya have opened webshops through Sky.Garden, which allows a retailer on one side of Kenya to sell products to a customer on the other side without any tech background. Purchased items are delivered within 24 hours, and the money paid into the vendor’s account when the customer accepts the item.

This investment round will allow Sky.Garden to drive impact at scale. The company previously raised a $1.2 million seed funding round in 2018.

SANAD board chairperson Dr Daniela Beckmann said, “The pandemic has underscored the importance of digital solutions in ensuring flexible, sustainable operations for entrepreneurs.

We are very pleased to be joining forces with Sky.Garden, an impactful company expanding access to the benefits of e-commerce to the locally owned businesses that drive the engine of the economy and are at the core of SANAD’s mission. With an investment into Sky.Garden, we will also enable technology transfer for the benefit of entrepreneurs in the region”

Ashish Patel, partner at Aavishkaar Capital, said “Sky.Garden is at the forefront at offering these businesses, transformative tools to fully capitalize on the uniquely African e-commerce opportunity, emerging as one of the leading e-commerce enabling platforms on the continent,”