FlexPay Technologies is a Kenyan fintech out to enable consumers to afford products that would have otherwise been out of reach for them. The startup allows customers to shop at partner merchants, reserve products and pay over a period of time at no added cost. It initially partnered with a Kenyan retailer during launch but scaled in 2020 and has to date grown its merchant network to 600.
ANKA, an Ivorian SaaS e-commerce platform for African businesses, has raised US$5 million. The pre-Series A extension round is a mix of equity and debt; last January, ANKA, formerly Afrikrea, raised US$6.2 million. The seven-year-old startup has secured US$13.5 million from investors since its inception. In a statement, ANKA said it will use the fresh investment to strengthen product development and expand services, particularly in its key markets: Nigeria, Kenya and the U.S.
Salesforce’s customer relationship management solutions are empowering AlMalki Group, a Saudi-based family-owned business, which specializes in the luxury retail and distribution market, to digitally transform the GCC’s $29 billion e-commerce market.
Traffic to ecommerce websites fell 1% year-on-year while ecommerce app sessions rose 13%, according to Similarweb. Shopper experience still needs improvement: 41% of shoppers feel like strangers to their favorite retailers and only 20% see frequent personalization. Convenience is king: 55% say they’d pay more to find the right item without scrolling through several pages of results.