Seed Funding Vs Crowd Funding: Why This Kenyan Startup Prefers the Latter

Over the recent years, African startups have been on the rise with global investors finally looking at investment opportunities in this space. Most startups have been setting up Seed funding to source funds to help them expand and spread their wings.

However, a Kenyan beverage manufacturing startup, Kenyan Originals, has decided to use crowdfunding to source for expansion funds. Kenyan Originals has already tapped into the Kenyan market with its full-Kenyan ingredient list and now plans to expand to the rest of the continent.

“We are at an inflection point for our brands and we want our audience, our brand ambassadors, and the general public to get a chance to own part of the business,” the Kenya Originals founder and CEO, Alexandre Chappatte, says as she talks about the decision to crowdfund.

“We have seen a lot of local startups raising funds through seed funding. We have brought on seed funding as part of the company’s growth journey. At this point, thought, we want to make it accessible for our audience to not only drink our drinks but own part of the company. Our audience are our best brand ambassadors, and this will make them stronger brand ambassadors,” she adds.

Kenya Originals went through the seed funding stage which included Chandaria group and key individuals such as Phillip Redman (Ex-head of AB-InBev East Africa) and Charles Rolls (Co-Founder of Fever Tree).

The beverage company has now put its faith on the Kenyans that have believed in the brand to help them expand the presence of their brand. Kenya Originals’ CEO believes that the crowdfund will help Kenyans share word of mouth about these fantastic brands.

“We will be primarily targeting our Kenyan Originals (KO) and African Originals (AO) audience via our social media platforms. They will be our best brand ambassadors,” the Kenyan Originals CEO noted.

The beverage company is among the few startups that are looking to use crowdfunding to be able to expand their wings. The firm will give up to 10% of our company away as part of the fundraise. The company has been using local ingredients for their drinks but for this trial, the CEO suggests, the company will bring in local platforms later.

“We would always want to hero local platforms. For this first trial, we are using a major global platform to be able to give reassurance to our audience that the process is well managed. Once we build confidence in this way of fundraising, we would love to explore local crowdfund platforms,” she said.

Kenya Originals is a fully Kenyan company that produces alcoholic beverages by using 100% Kenyan ingredients. The startup started with targeting the cider market in Kenya however they are planning on venturing into other markets as well.