Nigerian one-click checkout platform OurPass raises $1M pre-seed.
Image Credits: OurPass
Honestly Speaking Nigerian startups have been so Rad in collecting the funds or rather getting funded. The sun is shining well in the West! OurPass has taken an interest to build one a platform that makes shopping a whole lot more fun by enabling fast logging and checkout system on the store
The Nigeria-based startup, which describes itself as the “Fast for Africa”, has also closed a $1 million pre-seed round to scale across the country. The round was led by Tekedia Capital and angel investors from Fortune 500 companies, the company said.
E-commerce checkout problem is one founder and CEO Samuel Eze is familiar with, but through a second-hand experience.
“I watched my mother struggle to shop online where I saw her set up multiple accounts on different platforms while going through a rigorous checkout process,” he told TechCrunch in an interview. “In many cases, she ended up dropping the card and moving on to a different online store. Seeing the same pattern happen with other friends and family, I had to dive into it and found that it was actually a major headache for consumers and online retailers.”
Nigeria’s or Rather Africa’s e-commerce market is still heavily reliant on cash on delivery. In fact, as of 2019, 70% of Nigerians in a survey said they prefer cash on delivery options to making online payments.
But the narrative is slowly changing with the likes of Paystack and Flutterwave, making it easier for merchants to collect online payments.
Per Statista, 27% of online payments made on e-commerce sites are now carried out with cards, topping cash and bank transfers as the most common payment method.
OurPass has gathered a few merchants on its platform. Most of its clients are small businesses that use Storemia, an online storefront provider OurPass acquired recently. The company also plans to work with merchants on e-commerce platforms, including WooCommerce, Magento, Squarespace and Shopify in the future and social commerce platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
Alongside its one-click checkout, OurPass also offers free delivery on all orders for customers. The company partnered with logistics companies like MAX.ng and Gokada to execute on this front.
The one-year-old company charges 0.8% per transaction, capped at N1,000 (~$2) for merchants and a commission of 5% on every product sold — Eze also hints at a plan for the company to introduce subscriptions. Since beta launching in May this year, OurPass claims to have done $500,000 in transaction value and hopes continuous growth will see it become the go-to platform for consumer checkout in Nigeria by 2023.
Per use of funds, Eze says OurPass will develop its technology and grow its team to up to 200 people before the end of next year.
