Wikipedia

Draft:Wasoko


Wasoko
FormerlySokowatch (2014–2022)
TypePrivate
IndustryB2B E-commerce
Founded2014; 12 years ago (2014) (as Sokowatch in Nairobi, Kenya)
FoundersDaniel Yu
Headquarters
Cairo
,
Egypt
Area served
Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Tanzania
Key people
Belal El-Megharbel (CEO)
ProductsMobile ordering, last-mile distribution, merchant credit, digital payments
Number of employees
~4,000 (2024)
ParentMaxAB-Wasoko
Websitewasoko.com

Wasoko (formerly Sokowatch) is an African business-to-business e-commerce company that supplies fast-moving consumer goods to informal retailers through a mobile ordering platform and same-day delivery network. Founded in Nairobi by American entrepreneur Daniel Yu, the company merged with the Egyptian B2B platform MaxAB in 2024 to form MaxAB-Wasoko, headquartered in Cairo and operating in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

History

edit

Founding and early years (2014–2019)

edit

The company was founded by Daniel Yu, who conceived the idea after observing chronic stock-outs at small retail shops while travelling in Egypt in 2012.[1] After exploring potential markets, Yu launched operations in Kenya in 2015 under the name Sokowatch — a portmanteau of soko, the Swahili word for "market".[1] An initial pilot with the local office of Wrigley in mid-2015 led the team to abandon an asset-light brokerage model in favour of a fully integrated logistics operation.[1] The platform was relaunched in 2016 with proprietary warehousing and a fleet of tuk-tuks for last-mile delivery in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.[2]

In 2018, Sokowatch raised a US$2 million seed round led by 4DX Ventures, followed in February 2020 by a US$14 million Series A led by Quona Capital.[2][3] By the time of the Series A the company served around 15,000 informal retailers across Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, and had begun extending in-kind credit to shopkeepers based on order data.[2] In December 2020, the company began deploying electric tuk-tuks for last-mile delivery in Uganda, described as the first commercial use of such vehicles in East Africa.[4] In March 2021, Sokowatch was named to Fast Company's annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for that year, in the Europe, Middle East and Africa category, having grown to a network of around 18,000 shops at the time.[5][4]

Series B and rebrand (2022)

edit

In March 2022, the company closed a US$125 million Series B round co-led by Tiger Global and Avenir Growth Capital at a reported valuation of US$625 million — described at the time as the largest funding round ever raised by a non-fintech startup in Africa.[6] Yu later disclosed that only US$113 million of the announced amount was actually received.[7]

Following the Series B, Sokowatch rebranded as Wasoko (Swahili for "people of the market") to reflect a pan-African expansion strategy, and opened operations in Senegal and Ivory Coast.[8] In May 2022, Wasoko was ranked the fastest-growing company in Africa in the inaugural Financial Times–Statista ranking of Africa's Fastest Growing Companies, with a compound annual revenue growth rate of 346% between 2017 and 2020 — revenues having grown from US$0.3 million in 2017 to US$27.4 million in 2020, and headcount from 57 to 372 over the same period.[9][10]

Retrenchment and merger with MaxAB (2023–2024)

edit

By 2023, deteriorating unit economics across African B2B e-commerce led Wasoko to scale back. The company closed hubs in Senegal and Ivory Coast, shut its Zanzibar office and conducted multiple rounds of layoffs.[7] Swedish investment firm VNV Global reduced its valuation of its stake by 48% in its 2023 annual report, implying a fair value for the company of approximately US$260 million as of December 2023, down from US$501 million a year earlier.[7]

In December 2023, Wasoko announced merger talks with MaxAB, an Egyptian B2B e-commerce platform.[7] The all-stock transaction completed in August 2024, integrating sixteen subsidiaries across the two companies' markets and creating an entity with around 450,000 merchants and over 4,000 employees.[11] Yu and MaxAB co-founder Belal El-Megharbel served as co-CEOs of the combined company, which is headquartered in Cairo.[11] The combined company retained operations in five markets — Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda and Tanzania — having exited Uganda, Zambia and others ahead of and following the merger.[11][12]

Strategic shift and Yu's departure (2025)

edit

On 18 September 2025, Yu announced via LinkedIn that he was stepping down from his executive role after eleven years, remaining with the company as an adviser. El-Megharbel became sole CEO.[12] The combined company has shifted strategic emphasis from B2B e-commerce towards fintech services, including merchant credit, digital payments and airtime top-ups, citing higher margins than the underlying logistics business.[11][12]

Operations

edit

Wasoko operates as an intermediary between FMCG manufacturers and informal retailers (commonly called dukas in East Africa). Shopkeepers place orders via a mobile application or SMS and receive same-day delivery from regional warehouses operated by Wasoko.[2] The company has supplier agreements with multinationals including Procter & Gamble and Unilever, allowing it to bypass intermediate distributors.[7] A merchant-credit product, introduced in 2019, allows shopkeepers to receive goods on short-term financing — typically the first formal credit available to them.[2]

In 2022 the company reported gross merchandise value of US$300 million on an annualised basis;[7] the post-merger entity has not published consolidated GMV figures.[11]

Reception and academic study

edit

Wasoko has been the subject of an academic case study published by the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business through Harvard Business Publishing, examining the company's response to supply-chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]

References

edit
  1. 1 2 3 Adinkrah, Harriet (March 2022). "4DX Founder Interview: Daniel Yu of Sokowatch". 4DX Ventures. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Bright, Jake (23 February 2020). "Sokowatch raises $14M to digitize Africa's informal B2B supply-chain". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  3. ↑ "Kenyan ecommerce startup Sokowatch raises $14m". Ventureburn. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Sokowatch Named as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies". PC Tech Magazine. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  5. ↑ "The World's Most Innovative Companies 2021". Fast Company. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "African B2B e-commerce platform Wasoko raises $125m in Series B round". AgFunderNews. March 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bright, Jake (27 March 2024). "African B2B e-commerce giant Wasoko marked down to $260M after VC halves stake". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  8. ↑ Price, Ivor (6 September 2023). "E-commerce giant Wasoko expands into DRC". Ventureburn. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "Kenya's little-known firms earning billions revealed". Business Daily Africa. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  10. ↑ "Seeing the unseen: Africa's fastest growing companies". Trade Law Centre (TRALAC). 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "African B2B e-commerce startups Wasoko and MaxAB complete merger: Interview with co-CEO Daniel Yu". TechCrunch. 27 August 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 "Wasoko co-founder Daniel Yu steps down a year after merger with MaxAB". TechCabal. 18 September 2025. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "Wasoko: Going the last mile for informal retailers in East Africa". Harvard Business Publishing. UCT003. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Wasoko&oldid=1352641783"