Jumba, a Kenyan construction tech startup that simplifies the sourcing of building materials, has secured clients in major regions of the East African country, a claim of the growth it has experienced over the last 10 months.
Jumba claims to have recorded a 300 times month-over-month growth since April last year and it helps construction material retailers (regarded as hardware stores locally) found on almost every block, to restock and real estate developers to access the supplies they need for their projects.
The round was led by Local Globe, with participation from Enza capital, which led its $ 1 million pre-seed round last year, Foundamental, Seedstars International Ventures, Logos Ventures, SpeeedInvest, First Check Africa, and Alumni Angel Network.
The CEO, Kagure Wamunyu, and the Co-founder reveal to TechCrunch that the startup, currently covering 60% of Kenya’s 47 counties, is scaling its operations in the country, to keep up with the growing demand for construction materials, buoyed by $4.5million funding it has secured in the seed round.
Kagure Wamunyu said, “Most of our customers are in counties beyond the capital, Nairobi, the reason is that manufacturing is centralised in Nairobi, but customers are located throughout the country and that is where we come in because we can help with distribution”.
Miano Njoka, the Co-founder said “We realized that the needs not only with the hardware stores, it’s also with the developers because they were also requesting the products from us after starting by serving retailers but afterward began supplying construction materials to developers.
However, Jumba simplifies the sourcing of construction materials through a common marketplace for retailers and developers, which helps them with the stress of dealing with multiple suppliers. Customers access products through its web platform but its team of sales associates in different countries help with client sourcing too. Hence, Jumba negotiates discounted prices (plus their markup) with manufacturers.
Wamunyu noted that “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”.
She further said that retailers can access financing through services like buy-now pay later from our bank partners. Construction sites will also have the ability to get the materials to complete the works shortly”. She added that we put a lot of emphasis on understanding the customer, what they need, their pain points, and then tailor our products to fit them. We are doing this so that we can unlock access and cash flow’’.
Jumba hopes to continue solving the challenges and bridging the housing deficit in Kenya.
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