South African E-Commerce Startup Yebo Fresh Raises USD 4.5 M Pre-Series A Round

South African e-commerce startup Yebo Fresh, an order-to-delivery service providing townships with fresh groceries and food, has raised a ZAR78 million (USD 4.5 M) Pre-Series A equity investment, and a Jobs Fund grant. The round was led by Enza Capital, Harvest, and E4E Africa. The funding will allow the company to expand further, significantly build on its physical and systems infrastructure, and attract new talent.

Yebo Fresh is an online shopping service for township communities, delivering groceries to areas that are generally unserved by most formal retailers. Orders are placed via WhatsApp or through the Yebo Fresh team of field sales agents, with Yebo Fresh using a dark store-based fulfillment model to deliver orders within 24 hours. The startup also offers a buy-now-pay-later option.