Kenyan startup Leta secures $3M in Pre-Seed funding to expand its supply chain and logistics platform
Leta, the supply chain and logistics startup driving distribution optimization, announced the close of $3 million Pre-Seed equity round that includes participation from 4Di Capital, Chandaria Capital, Chui Ventures, PANI, Samurai Incubate and Verdant Frontiers Fintech. The round also included participation from angel investors Ken Njoroge, Founder of Cellulant and Charles Murito, Google Regional Director, SSA, Government Affairs and Public Policy.
Leta uses artificial intelligence to enable the efficient and automated movement of goods for businesses. The company’s mission is to lower the cost of moving goods for businesses to reduce the cost to end consumers. Leta is able to achieve this through its proprietary route and load optimization technology that reduces the number of assets required for B2B and B2B2C customers to complete deliveries while continuously improving service delivery. Through its 20+ active customers, the supply chain and logistics SAAS provider has optimized 500,000+ deliveries, delivered 20,000+ tonnes, managed 2000+ vehicles, and launched operations in five countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Zambia. Some of Leta’s customers include Twiga Foods, Chandaria Industries, Simbisa Brands and ShopZetu.
Kenyan-born tech entrepreneur Nick Joshi is the Founder and CEO of Leta and has over a decade of experience in New York startup tech. He spent the last few years hacking the efficiency of delivery management and logistics as VP of Product for delivery.com, where the company delivered 10,000 orders daily across the US. Joshi saw firsthand how delivery.com operated in New York, and by the time he left, the business operated in more than 35 states across the US. Passionate about bringing his expertise back to his home country, Joshi founded Leta with the mission to power local industries and transform their business operations.
Commenting on the raise, Joshi said, “We are proud to be building the backend of supply chain and logistics in Africa, saving our customers 20-30% on their logistics costs. Much like the US and Europe, the supply chain and logistics industry in Africa is highly fragmented and lacks efficiency. However, in Africa, the supply chain & logistics costs are typically 60-70% higher, which is then passed to the end consumer. With Leta, we plan to offer a robust and easy-to-use solution for moving goods while doing it much more efficiently. We are also excited by the downstream potential of additional services that we can offer through the platform. The solution also has global applications and not only in emerging markets. We are raising a seed round now to further our Pan-African expansion and launch our transport marketplace and fintech-powered products.”
Darshan Chandaria, the CEO of Chandaria Capital said, “As a leading FMCG player in the region, we are continuously focused on optimizing our business to best service the growing demand. Leta has played a pivotal role in helping us streamline our last mile distribution and we’re seeing meaningful savings on our logistics costs in addition to an improved service delivery time. After working closely with the Leta team, we were impressed with the team, the technology they are building, and the scale of the problem they are solving, which prompted our investment from Chandaria Capital.”
Most African logistic providers, distributors, and intermediaries use rigid and non-tech systems that lack efficiency. Leta is branching out from the crowded supply chain & logistics sector to build category-defining technology, opening up an extremely large market and innovating for distributors by providing a cutting-edge solution that will drive supply chain and logistics efficiency.
Leta works with companies rooted in food and beverage, fast-moving consumer goods, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals and NGOs, among others, and is streamlining the experience for logistics and operations managers to track metrics, including optimized and automated route & load planning, fuel tracking, distance travelled, and idle time. Robust analytics are configurable to understand cost to serve, OTIF, route profitability and vehicle utilization. Customers can easily leverage Leta’s many third-party integrations into their own warehouse management, enterprise resource planning and point-of-sale systems such as SAGE, SAP, and Shopify.
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