Jendaya, a London-based but Africa-focused platform that acts as a gateway for global luxury brands to the African continent and for consumers in the rest of the world to discover African brands, has raised £1 million ($1.2 million) in pre-seed funding.
The one-year-old startup is the brainchild of Mr Ayotunde Rufai, who shopped luxury items in the U.K. for his relatives back in Nigeria.
According to TechCrunch, Mr Rufai said Jendaya is a platform where Africans can get designer items such as Gucci loafers or Bottega bags in days or a week.
“They don’t have to jump through hoops or have a month or few weeks’ delays because they can have that in their hands in some days or a week,” he said.
Africans can easily shop for beauty and home decor to accessories, via the platform.
The e-commerce platform is also connecting African and African diaspora luxury brands with high-end consumers worldwide and African shoppers to global brands, supporting slow fashion, artisan craft, made-to-order luxury goods and emerging talent.
Jendaya has a list of brands including Brooklyn-based minimalist accessories brand Marty Moto and others that incorporate heritage into a modern context, like Kenyan brand Adele Dejak.
Other brands include the Beninese-French silk shirt label Alledjo and burgeoning names such as Casablanca, founded by Morrocan designer Charaf Tajer, a finalist of the 2020 LVMH Prize.
Jendaya is popular in the U.K., Nigeria, Ghana, and the U.S. and has partnered with DHL to ship the items globally.
Orders processed by the start-up are about 300 since its launch, with an average order value per shopping cart of $350.