Kenyan start-up, Bamba Group (they featured on NTVs Lion’s Den), raises $1.1 million in its first round of seed funding
Bamba Group has raised $1.1 million (Ksh.110 million) in its first round of seed funding from investors in less than a year for its expansion strategy. Bamba plans to put the $1.1 million towards developing new innovative data collection solutions, supporting a larger number of clients, and expanding its team and geographical reach.
In November 2016 Bamba group received $250,000 (Ksh.25 million) worth of investment from Darshan Chandaria, CEO and Director of Chandaria industries Group after pitching their business model at Lion’s Den, a TV investment Forum sponsored by NTV Kenya and KCB Group. This is the Kenyan equivalent of popular TV programme Shark Tank. The investment was to be used to expand Bamba’s operations throughout Africa.
It also received support from a US based firm, Techstars, into the prestigious TechStars accelerator program in 2016. This offered Bamba group co-founders that is Al Ismaili, CEO, Faiz Hirani, CTO and Shehzad Tejani, COO, a 13-week training and access to Techstar’s network of founders, alumni and mentors. They gained access to a well-established network that provided them with business development mentorship, customer acquisition, capital, talent recruitment and an initial financial investment.
Bamba Group was founded in 2015 with a core workforce of 7 full-time employees in addition to its 3 co-founders. The startup has been providing SMS based solutions and data collection software to companies and organizations in different sectors in any country’s economy. Their clientele includes organizations involved in market research consulting, private equity, agriculture, education, health, finance, government agencies, NGOs and private companies. The demand for technology-based research is a key indicator on how technology is playing a critical role in the research and development that enhances efficiency in organizational operations.
“It’s incredible; we’ve established a global reach, spanning Canada, US, UK, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria. This is in large part thanks to ongoing support from our investors.”
-Al Ismaili, Co-founder and CEO, Bamba Group
