Kenyan home furniture manufacturer and retailer, Moko Home + Living has closed a $6.5 million series B debt-equity funding round.
The Series B round was led by Novastar Ventures (also co-led the Series A round). The other major players in the round include US-based investment fund Talanton and Swiss investor AlphaMundi Group Ltd.
The latest funding will see the company close the availability gap for quality furniture in African homes.
According to Co-founder, Eric Kouskalis, the company’s goal is to expand the existing quality furniture market for households in Kenya as well as make furniture relatively cheaper for families.
“We entered this market because we saw a real opportunity to guarantee and deliver quality furniture. We also wanted to bring convenience to customers, by making it easy for them to buy home furniture, the largest asset for most families in Kenya,”
Eric Kouskalis, MoKo’s Managing Director and Co-founder
The company is also planning to use the fund to grow its presence in Kenya using online channels as well as build partnerships with retailers and outlets to increase offline sales. It also plans to purchase more equipment.
MoKo’s investment partner, AlphaMundi in a statement expressed satisfaction with the company’s objective of driving a sustainable production of suitable and affordable furniture that is ecofriendly.
“We were impressed by MoKo’s climate friendly local production capabilities. The company is a leading innovator in the industry because they’ve turned sustainability into a remarkable commercial advantage. Every step they’ve taken on this front not only protects the environment, it also improves the durability or affordability of MoKo’s offering to its customers,”
Miriam Atuya of the AlphaMundi Group
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What you need to about MoKo
MoKo Home + Living was founded in 2014, initially as Watervale Investment Limited, first with an aim to fix raw material supply issues for furniture makers. It changed course in 2017 to service the general market and began a pilot for its first consumer product, a mattress.
A year later, MoKo Home + Living was introduced.
According to the startup, it has grown five-fold over the past three years and its goods are now in more than 370,000 homes in Kenya.
It hopes to further sell to millions of homes over the next few years, as it embarks on scaling up production and growing its product line
“We plan to have an offering for each major piece of furniture in a typical home – bed frame, TV stand, coffee table, carpet. We are also developing even more affordable products in existing product categories – sofas and mattresses,” said Kouskalis.
By 2025, the furniture-making company hopes to expand its customer base and enter three new markets as the need for furniture on the continent grows as a result of population expansion, urbanization, and rising incomes.
“The potential for growth is what excites us the most. There’s still so much room to better serve millions of families in Kenya. That’s just the beginning – MoKo’s model is relevant for most markets in Africa, where families face similar obstacles in making comfortable, welcoming homes,” said Kouskalis.
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