Maka, the Nigerian fashion and beauty e-commerce platform has secured a $2.65 million pre-seed funding round from 4DX Ventures and Janngo Capital with participation from Palm Drive Capital, angel investor Jonathan Shipman, founder of EVP, and executives from delivery platform Wolt to enhance the fashion and beauty shopping experience in Africa .
Founded in 2021 by Diana Owusu-Kyereko, Maka is an interactive social commerce platform that simplifies the process of purchasing fashion and beauty products in Africa through live try-on hauls, reviews, and user-generated content from both creators and customers.
According to Owusu-Kyereko ,The creation of Maka was prompted by why everyone suggested shopping on platforms like ASOS and Instagram or visiting expensive boutiques ,she surveyed hundreds of people in Ghana and Nigeria, focusing on their preferred shopping avenues and found out that shopping was a challenging experience and a gap that needed addressing.
Owusu stated that among explored shopping methods, Instagram stood out as the “Wild Wild West,” where what you see may not be what you get, and pre-payment is often required with limited options for refunds or returns.
She also realized that traditional markets could be stressful, leading to reliance on personal shoppers and cross-border shopping from platforms like ASOS and Shein presented challenges related to payments and logistics.
Owusu found that it was complex and complicated for the user. There was a problem with trust in the buying process as people had their horror stories about buying online. She also discovered that aggregation of everybody’s needs in one place was also not there. She also said that during COVID, and she unable to travel to buy stuff and after doing interviews and surveys in the market ,she realized that this is a wider challenge for consumers .
Maka aims to building trust in the buying process and provide creators with opportunities to monetize their influence. By leveraging video content, Maka connects users with trusted creators, offering a more personalized and trustworthy shopping experience.
The platform also allows customers to share video reviews of their purchases, fostering a sense of community and trust within the Maka platform.
It’s user-generated content model enables a wide range of creators to produce video content based on their purchases. The platform also features a rewards system, incentivizing users to upload video reviews and engage with the community.
Since its launch, Maka has seen significant user engagement, with over 500,000 downloads and more than 2,000 reviews created since the launch of its user-generated content model.
The funding will enable the company to expand its team, enhance its technology, and deepen its presence in Ghana and Nigeria.
The platform is poised to further revolutionize the fashion and beauty e-commerce landscape in Africa, offering a more inclusive, personalized, and trustworthy shopping experience for consumers while providing creators with new avenues for monetization.
