Senegalese startup ProXalys has secured a $500,000 funding round to expand its market and bolster its flagship product, ProBoutik, an invoice-lending management tool. The recently raised $500,000 funding round is divided into three parts, with 216 Capital leading with $300,000. Haskè Ventures and Digital Africa participated through the FUZE program. With this fresh funding, the company aims to enhance its data and AI teams in Tunisia and Senegal while establishing a strong presence in Dakar and Tunis.
Established in 2021 by Thierno Sakho, ProXalys oversees and captures customers’ finances. Targeting the digitization of informal retailers, the retail-lending and B2B eCommerce platform serves as an online marketplace for agricultural products, offering merchants options for deferred payments and assured payments. It assists informal distributors in order management, administration, and supply chain logistics while providing procurement services for everyday products.
ProXalys boasts a clientele of over 100 customers and is contemplating enhancing the value chain within the agricultural sector. The platform views digitization as crucial for the informal sector and aims to aid informal traders in adopting digital distribution and management practices to stay competitive.
ProXalys contributes to the over 60 million micro-businesses constituting Africa’s informal trade landscape. Senegal’s informal economy is estimated at 37.7%, or roughly $40 billion, at GDP purchasing power parity (PPP) levels. For 216 Capital, the partnership underscores a shared belief in the significance of digital transformation and financial inclusion in fostering long-term, sustainable economic growth in the region.
In 2022, ProXalys secured $150,000 in pre-seed funding to expand nationwide and across the West African region, fortify its technology, and develop its physical infrastructure from Haskè Ventures, a Dakar-based startup venture builder. In October of the same year, ProXalys joined the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa program, which offers mentoring, coaching, and peer-to-peer learning to selected fintech startups.
The Senegalese company also made it to the shortlist of 36 African startups for the 2022 Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Africa Challenge, with the winner receiving $50,000 in equity funding.
Source: TechPoint