S.A.’s HAVAIC Invests In Kenya’s Postbox Startup Mpost In Preparation For Series A
Cape Town-based investment and strategic advisory firm HAVAIC has made an unspecified amount of investment in Kenya’s virtual postbox startup Mpost.
The deal which was concluded earlier this year was a pre-Series A round with which the investor is gearing to participate in the Nairobi based firm.
A company inspired by a failed employment offer posting, Kenyans Abdulaziz (Aziz) Omar and Twahir Mohamed founded Mpost, an innovative, simple and affordable solution that utilizes consumers’ mobile phone numbers to create internationally accepted postal addresses, virtual Post Office (P.O.) boxes and generate real-time cell phone notifications for its customers.
The startup which was contrived in 2016, has rolled out its innovative system in the East African country as part of a collaborative venture with the Kenyan government’s postal services, Posta. According to disclosures made alongside the announcement, Mpost will be taking its virtual services to Uganda soon.
Looking at only the COMESA countries, Mpost is addressing a potential target market of 150 to 200 million customers; and with the international patent and UPU approval, will be looking further afield to other similar jurisdictions.
Mpost, who has a partnership with the likes of DEMO Africa, Microsoft, Kenya’s Ministry of ICT, UPU, participated recently at the Startup World Cup as Africa’s representative in San Francisco. Following the funding, CEO Aziz Omar expressed his delight in having HAVAIC as its investor.
“As a seasoned investment and advisory firm, HAVAIC will undoubtedly bolster Mpost’s growth and impact in the region. This is a vote of confidence in our product and indeed our vision as a company,”.
Mpost, a successful Startupbootcamp Africa (SBA Africa) alumnus, was formally presented to HAVAIC on the grounds of the investor’s collaboration with SBC Africa.
Sequel to the funding, Zachariah George, SBC co-founder, will join the board of Mpost to represent SBC Africa and HAVAIC, a partnership which CTO Twahir Mohamed says will enable all parties “Enhance the efficiency and user experience of the product, and improve the long term benefits to our clients and stakeholders.
HAVAÍC’s Rob Heath, the partner responsible for pan-African and international business said: “After spending time with Aziz and Twahir in Nairobi and seeing the solution in action, it’s clear that this is not just a technology and commercial product.
Mpost makes a real impact on people’s daily lives, and as an investor, it’s rewarding when we can tie these two elements together. That being said, this is a great example of African problems producing global solutions – one of the cornerstones of our investment thesis at HAVAIC.”
With a minimum target of USD 2 Mn, Mpost has commenced it’s Series A equity fundraise, while already having hard-faced interest and commitments from a variety of foreign investors. HAVAIC has secured the rights to advance a significant share of this round.
