Dealflow | August 25, 2021

Nigeria’s Alerzo raises $10.5 million to digitize informal businesses

Jessica Pothering
ImpactAlpha Editor

Jessica Pothering

ImpactAlpha, August 25 – The digitization trend that’s taken off in the pandemic has focused on helping put small businesses online. Alerzo is among a subset of enterprise tech startups supporting even smaller businesses – the informal, women-led micro-business sector.

Based in Ibadan, Nigeria’s third-largest city, Alerzo aims to “empower the millions of women who are the backbone of consumer commerce in Nigeria’s $100 billion informal retail sector.”

Alerzo’s $10.5 million Series A round was backed by Nosara Capital in London, FJ Labs and several family offices.

Alerzo’s platform helps retailers streamline inventory sourcing, adopt cashless payments, and introduce new services to customers, like selling mobile airtime, money transfers and bill payments.

TradeDepot, also in Nigeria, and MarketForce in Kenya offer similar services for informal and mom-and-pop retailers.