South African e-commerce technology firm uAfrica has secured US$1.5 million funding from bidorbuy.co.za and Andy Higgins, managing director (MD) of uAfrica.
Higgins was MD of bidorbuy.co.za for 11 years and currently sits on its board as a non-executive director.
“Over the last two years, a substantial portion of locally established online South African e-commerce companies have benefitted from an influx of global investment. This increase is testament to the opportunity the South African market has to offer these investors both from a return perspective and the growth in the number of local skilled experts working on IT and application developments,” said Higgins.
The company said it would continue to focus on e-commerce facilities that speak to the local market and local need.
“Too often international products offer services that aren’t always applicable to a very local audience – we plan to shift the paradigm as we take International best practices and add relevant localisation giving merchants and consumers the best of both worlds,” said Higgins.
Chief executive officer (CEO) at bidorbuy.co.za Jaco Jonker said the online retail space has become a significant part of South African shopping trends.
“Therefore, the need to operate or generate sales across multiple web based retail stores or applications will continue to grow, as will the need to manage inventory across these various platforms,” said Jonker.
“We made the business decision to partner with the leading e-commerce experts, uAfrica.com, in order to help deliver these specialised services, including multiple channels, to online retailers. This is also fundamental to the future e-commerce growth within the bidorbuy channel,” he said.
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