Kinnevik, a major investor in ecommerce group Rocket Internet, has led a new round of funding into Nigeria’s online store Konga.
According to the TechCabal.com web site, the venture funding of $25 million was completed just days before the end of the last year and is the biggest single amount invested in any African start-up so far.
Previous investors Kinnevik, based in Stockholm in Sweden and which has a 23.9 per cent stake in Rocket, and Cape Town-based Naspers are the two participants in the series B round, the site said.
Previous rounds have raised a total of $13.5 million. Kinnevik provided the $3.5 million seed funding in 2012 and the two firms contributing $10 million in series A funding last year.
Konga has an estimated 200 staff and CEO Sim Shagaya plans to used the extra money to invest in new staff and technical systems.
It is one of the biggest ecommerce businesses in the country alongside Rocket Internet’s Jumia which was formed through the merger of Kasuwa and Subunta in 2012, with associated staff cuts. Jumia has so far received $50 million funding.
In June 2013 Rocket raised $35 million which has been distributed among various A\frican Internet Holding group's start-ups.
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