Konga.com

Konga
Founded 2012
Headquarters Lagos, Nigeria
Founder(s) Sim Shagaya
CEO Sim Shagaya
Industry Internet
online retailing
Employees 700 (January 2015)
Website Konga.com
Alexa rank Increase 2,575 (February 2015)[1]
Type of site E-commerce
Available in English
Launched 2012

Konga.com is a Nigerian electronic commerce company founded in 2012 with headquarters in Yaba, Lagos. It offers a third-party online marketplace, as well as first-party direct retail spanning various categories including consumer electronics, fashion, home appliances, books, children's items, and personal care products.

History

Konga was founded in July 2012 by Sim Shagaya, with 20 staff.[2] Shortly after launching in 2012, Konga raised a $3.5 million seed round from Investment AB Kinnevik.[3] The site initially functioned as a Lagos-only online retailer focused on merchandise in the Baby, Beauty, and Personal Care categories, but broadened its scope to all of Nigeria in December 2012 and gradually expanded merchandise categories through 2012 and 2013.[4]

In early 2013, Konga raised a $10 million Series A round from Investment AB Kinnevik and Naspers. In Q2 2013, Konga beta-tested 'Konga Mall,' opening up the Konga platform to third-party retailers and moving away from a pure first-party online retail model.[5] In late 2013, Konga finalized a $25 million Series B round from previous investors, Investment AB Kinnevik and Naspers, the largest single round raised by a single African startup at the time.[6] On November 29, 2013, Konga.com crashed and remained offline for 45 minutes as a result of unprecedented traffic stemming from its Black Friday promotion.[7][8][9] Konga sold more during the first six hours of the promotion than it did in the prior month.[10]

Konga officially launched its third-party retail platform in the first half of 2014, rebranding it as 'Marketplace' from 'Konga Mall'; by the end of 2014, Konga's Marketplace featured 8,000 merchants, beating internal targets of 1,000 merchants eight-fold.[11] Konga received USD $3.5 million worth of orders during its 2014 Black Friday promotion, compared to USD $300,000 during the promotion in the previous year.[10] Konga reportedly grew 2014 revenue 450% from 2013.[12] In late 2014, Konga finalized a $40 million Series C round from Investment AB Kinnevik and Naspers, the largest single round raised by a single African startup to date.[13] Despite reports that Naspers acquired 50% of Konga in 2013,[14][15] publicly-traded Naspers disclosed that its stake in Konga after the October 2014 Series C investment was 40.22%.[16] Konga was reportedly valued at approximately $200 million as of the Series C.[17]

In January 2015, Konga was ranked as the most visited Nigerian website by Alexa Internet.[18] According to CEO Sim Shagaya, Konga "leads the field in Nigeria today [early 2015] in Gross Merchandise Value," a metric measuring the total value of merchandise sold through a particular marketplace.[19]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Konga.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Internet sales flourish in Nigeria". FinancialTimes. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Konga funding rounds". CrunchBase. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Konga goes nationwide today". Innovation Village. December 2012. Retrieved February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Konga Wants Entrepreneurs To Own An Online Store On Its Mall". TechLoy. 9 April 2014. Retrieved February 2015.
  6. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: ONLINE STORE, KONGA, RAISES 25 MILLION DOLLAR SERIES B FROM KINNEVIK AND NASPERS". TechCabal. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Mulligan, Gabriella (2 December 2013). "Konga.com crashes during online promotion". HumanIPO. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  8. ↑ Uzor Jr, Ben (24 December 2013). "Nigerian retailers fight for online shoppers". Business Day. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  9. ↑ Atuanya, Patrick; Augie, Bala (6 December 2013). "Online sales boom as Konga, Jumia lure shoppers". Business Day. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Sim Shagaya: On Building The Next Big Thing, Konga, Africa's Version Of Alibaba - Part One". Forbes. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  11. ↑ "Sim Shagaya: On Building The Next Big Thing, Konga, Africa's Version Of Alibaba - Part Two". Forbes. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  12. ↑ "Why Africa may be on the verge of an Internet boom". Fortune. 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "KONGA HAS JUST RAISED OVER $40 MILLION MORE TO FUND ANOTHER BOUT OF INSANE EXPANSION". TechCabal. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "Naspers Acquires 50% Stake In Nigerian Online Retailer Konga.com".
  15. ↑ "Developing Story: Naspers Buys 50 Percent Of Nigeria’s Konga.com".
  16. ↑ "Naspers 2015 Interim Report (PDF)". 30 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "WITH ABOUT $60MILLION NEW FUNDS, KONGA.COM MARKET VALUE STANDS AROUND $200 MILLION". 8 October 2014.
  18. ↑ "Konga Now Most Visited Nigerian Site". ThisDayLive. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  19. ↑ "Sim Shagaya: On Building The Next Big Thing, Konga, Africa's Version Of Alibaba - Part One". Forbes. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  20. ↑ "Startup Country Rankings - Nigeria". StartupRanking.com. February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  21. ↑ "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Africa". Fast Company. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  22. ↑ "Konga Enters ‘Top 12 Most Respected Companies’ List". Naij.com. 19 December 2014.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Konga Wins Online Retailer Brand of the Year at the Marketing World Awards 2014". Konga Blog. 10 November 2014.
  24. ↑ "LAGOS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AWARDS KONGA.COM AS MOST INNOVATIVE RETAIL BRAND AS MEGA-SALE CONTINUES". Innovation Village. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  25. ↑ "The Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Africa". Fast Company. 2 April 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  26. ↑ "Konga Wins Online Retailer of the Year at Marketing World Awards". TechCity NG. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  27. ↑ View Nigeria Newspaper (24 November 2014). "Konga Marketplace, What is it and how to use it". View Nigeria Newspaper. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

External links