Jumba, a Kenyan-based technology company that simplifies the purchase and supply of construction materials, has secured $4.5m in funding in its seed round. It enables hardware stores to restock and real estate developers to access project supplies.
LocalGlobe, Enza Capital which led its $1 million pre-seed round last year, Foundamental, Seedstars International Ventures, Logos Ventures, SpeedInvest, First Check Africa, and Alumni Angel Network participated in this round of funding.
Kagure Wamunyu, co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch that the startup, which currently operates in 60% of Kenya’s 47 counties, aims to scale its operations in Kenya to keep up with the growing demand for construction materials, which would help tackle the housing situation of the east African nation.
According to the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, Kenya’s housing demand is estimated at 250 000 houses annually. However, with a supply of only 50 000 new houses annually, there is an 80% annual housing deficit.
The government’s AHP has fallen short of its target of delivering 500 000 units, with less than 10% of intended units being delivered by 2022.
“We are growing very fast, and our problem has always been that we have way more demand than we can meet,” said Kagure Wamunyu.
Jumba also hopes that the funding will help end retailers’ unrest through short-term financing backed by its bank partners, with plans to aid substantial credit to developers.
How Jumba seeks to address construction problems in Kenya
Jumba’s Chief Executive explained the zeal to continually tackle the challenges in the construction sector to reduce the housing deficit in Kenya, which is presently at 80%.
“With our B2B marketplace our vision still remains verticalization in construction, and solving the problems in the sector. Kenya will remain our core market, the opportunity is massive here. We plan to scale in this market to acquire more customers before we explore the next market,” she said.
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Jumba makes it easier for retailers and developers to find construction materials in a common marketplace, reducing the stress of dealing with multiple suppliers.
“Most of our customers are in counties beyond the capital, Nairobi, and the reason is that manufacturing is centralized in Nairobi, but customers are located throughout the country, and that is where we come in because we help with distribution,” she said.
With Jumba’s web platform, customers access products. At the same time, its team of sales associates in different counties help with advertisements, referrals, corroborating and so on, while Jumba negotiates discounted prices (plus their markup) with manufacturers.
“Ours is a one stop shop, we manage the sourcing, and logistics headache. By using our platform, they also have access to their documents and invoices, for them to reconcile,” said Wamunyu, a civil engineer and contractor.
“We run in-house logistics as one of the ways we create efficiencies to deliver for people in a way that is not so expensive for them to access goods.”
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