Despite difficult years for the development of the e-commerce market in French-speaking Africa, some players are standing out. This is the case for Afrikrea, a startup dedicated to African fashion that was renamed ANKA in 2020.
After successive fundraising rounds of €1 million in 2020 and then $6.2 million in 2022 during a pre-Series A financing round, the startup is aiming high with a new $5 million (approximately €4.7 million) fundraising round, bringing the total amount raised since the marketplace's inception to over $13.5 million (€12.6 million).
Launched by Moulaye Tabouré and Abdoul Kadry Diallo in 2016 in Paris and now based in Abidjan, ANKA has been connecting African designers specializing in fashion and crafts with the rest of the world since its inception, enabling them to reach a wider audience among the African diaspora.
Available in French and English, the startup now has several thousand listings, 33,466 users from 45 countries, and recorded more than €1 million in transactions in January 2018. Anka is now an all-in-one product that allows users to sell, ship, and receive payments worldwide. It represents a real opportunity for African entrepreneurs.