Ghanaian e-logistics platform, Jetstream, raises $13 million pre-Series A

Jetstream Africa, a Ghanaian know-how firm working within the logistics sector, has raised $13 million in fairness and debt-funded pre-Series A. The fairness spherical noticed participation from French improvement establishment PROPARCO by means of the Digital Africa Bridge Fund; ASC VC, a enterprise fund based by executives of the availability chain visibility platform Project44; Nigerian enterprise capital fund Octerra; Senegal’s Wuri Ventures; Seed9, a syndicate based by Google alumni; the MBA Fund; the W Fund; and household places of work. 

Existing traders like Alitheia, IDF, and Golden Palm doubled down on their funding within the fairness spherical. Fintech lender Cauris was the only investor within the debt spherical. Miishe Addy, Jetstream’s CEO, informed TechCabal that traders have been chosen based mostly on their funding or operational expertise within the logistics sector. 

“All of our major investors have investment or operational experience with the problem we’re solving. They are specialists in supply chain technology like ASCVC, which was founded by Project44 executives, or African value chain and logistics portfolio companies like Alitheia, Golden Palm, Octerra, Wuri, and Proparco.” she informed TechCabal by way of textual content.

Jetstream’s platform affords an avenue for exporters and importers to use for commerce finance, guide shipments, and insure their items in a fraction of the time it could take them to coordinate these transactions individually with fragmented distributors. The firm goals to allow its clients to make higher selections by aggregating the fragmented financing and logistics distributors that help commerce throughout the continent’s 54 nations.

The firm’s enterprise mannequin relies on offering standalone logistics companies comparable to air, ocean, and floor transportation, customs clearance, pickup, supply, and dealing with for a payment. The firm additionally gives financing for its clients by paying all the purchasers’ distributors as a mortgage to the shopper, which will probably be repaid by the shopper 90 days after the cargo. 

The credit score possibility is accessible to exporters as buy order financing, which implies that Jetstream will cowl the price of shopping for inputs and fulfilling buy orders, and logistics distributors are paid by Jetstream as a mortgage to the exporter. For importers, an bill financing possibility is accessible the place Jetstream will cowl the price of importing items, together with freight, customs duties, and supply fees paid by Jetstream as a mortgage to the importer.

The funds from the pre-Series A spherical will probably be used to help Jetstream’s growth into new nations and the continued improvement of its know-how platform. Last August, Addy informed TechCabal that the corporate was wanting in direction of francophone Africa to mitigate the results of Ghana’s turbulent inflation as a result of the CFA was pegged to the Euro. 

Addy reiterated this need to increase to francophone Africa and added that Jetstream has partnered with a francophone last-mile e-logistics participant to ascertain a presence and that by the top of the primary quarter, the corporate ought to have expanded into the area.

She additionally added that Jetstream has partnered with a number of different key gamers, comparable to multinational banks like Societe Generale, pan-African e-insurance dealer LAMI, and cross-border funds operator MFS Africa, to ascertain itself as “the digital integrator of all the resources its customers need to grow their supply chains”. 

“Our partnerships with banks and debt investors enable trade finance, and our partnerships with e-insurance brokers enable us to provide insurance to shippers. The partnership with MFS Africa enables cross-border payment to logistics vendors outside our customer’s home country, and our last-mile logistics partnerships enable seamless pick-up and delivery from the port to the customer’s doorstep,” she informed TechCabal.

Ghana’s economic system has seen higher days; the inflation charge has been climbing for 18 straight months and reached 50.3% in November 2022. The earlier month, October, noticed a 40.4% inflation charge. This hovering charge has led to the Cedi incomes the undesirable title of the second worst-performing forex on the planet, in response to Bloomberg. 

Addy informed TechCabal that to cushion the results of inflation, Jetstream has strategic partnerships with three Ghanaian banks. Through these partnerships, the corporate deposits ensures in {dollars}, and the banks lend to Jetstream clients in Cedis at a hard and fast rate of interest. “This arrangement comes at a cost, but it has preserved a positive margin for our business,” Addy informed TechCabal. 

The firm additionally affords short-term loans, with a most time period of 90 days, that are repriced based mostly on the reference and FX charges at maturity.

According to Addy, Jetstream has grown its energetic pre-financed logistics clients by 102% within the final 12 months and has seen income develop by 48%. She additionally added that the corporate has achieved product-market match and a doubling of gross margins with the addition of the commerce finance and logistics bundle in 2022, even after accounting for depreciation. The CEO additionally shared that the credit score facet of the enterprise has grown to as much as 50 loans monthly, and Jetstream went months with a zero p.c default charge and is now at 2%. 

Speaking on the funding, Tokunboh Ishmael, co-founder and principal accomplice at Alitheia IDF, mentioned in an announcement, “This round of funding supports Jetstream’s expansion to new markets which capitalizes on trade policies like AfCFTA, enabling richer inter-continental trade which is needed to support inclusive economic development and unleashes the continent’s full potential. Alitheia IDF is proud to work with this visionary company in ushering in a bold new future for Africa.”