B2B Platform Alerzo Raises $10.5M In Series A Round

B2B tech and services platform Alerzo, based in Nigeria and Singapore, has announced it raised $10.5 million in a Series A funding round, Nairametrics reported. The company’s total funding is now over $20 million.

Alerzo, which was launched in 2019, works to empower informal retailers with various tools, the report stated. Alerzo customers can order products through phone calls, text messages or WhatsApp. Once orders are received, Alerzo sends the requests to the right warehouses, where logistics teams deliver to the customer in around four hours.

Customers only pay once they receive the shipments, according to the report. Alerzo services primarily women and those who are the primary breadwinners for their families.

The company is planning to add new features like a retailer app, which will let customers with smartphones order online, and a new app for cashless services, the report stated.

Alerzo Founder Adewale Opaleye said in the report the smartphone app had been delayed due to a lack of customers with smartphones.

“The reason we intentionally delayed the launch of a smartphone app is because the majority of our informal retail customers do not have smartphones, and thus we focused on meeting the customer where they currently are, instead of requiring them to purchase a smartphone to access our services,” he said, according to the report. “Our business was founded to serve all informal retailers, particularly those most marginalized by the current distribution ecosystem, and we can only do by designing products and services that she can actually use.”

Nosara Capital led the round. Galaxy Digital, the family office of Michael Novogratz, FJ Labs, and several prominent family offices from the U.S., Europe and Asia also pitched in, the report stated.

Another Nigeria-based company, Kuda Bank, raised $55 million in a Series B round that valued the company at $500 million.

Read more: Nigeria’s Kuda Bank Raises $55M At $500M Valuation

Kuda Bank said the money would go toward its goal of expanding to other countries in Africa.