MoKo has been around since 2014, a period in which the company has undergone a considerable metamorphosis. It was first named Watervale Investment Limited and focused on addressing challenges in the supply of raw materials for furniture manufacturers.
In 2017, the company started testing the market with its first consumer product (a mattress) before launching the MoKo Home + Living which has morphed into the furniture business. The MoKo mattress is still one of the company’s most popular products.
The startup has now announced that it raised $6.5 million in a Series B funding round, which is a combination of debt and equity. The round was co-led by U.S.-based investment fund Talanton and Swiss investor AlphaMundi Group.
“We entered this market because we saw a real opportunity to guarantee and deliver quality furniture. We also wanted to bring convenience to customers, by making it easy for them to buy home furniture, the largest asset for most families in Kenya,” Eric Kouskalis. Eric co-founded the company with Fiorenzo Conte.
According to the CEO, the company has grown nearly five times over the last three years, with its products finding a home in more than 370,000 households in Kenya, and hopes to hit millions of homes over the next couple of years.
“We plan to have an offering for each major piece of furniture in a typical home — bed frame, TV stand, coffee table, carpet. We are also developing even more affordable products in existing product categories — sofas and mattresses,” said Kouskalis.
MoKo is investing heavily in holistic digital processes. Besides building formidable online channels, the company is creating more partnerships with retailers and outlets as a way of increasing revenue.
It also makes use of a unique digital technology in its production, which has seen it purchase equipment that takes up complex woodworking designs from its team of engineers and executes them in seconds, says the CEO.
MoKo is eyeing the larger African market and hopes to expand into three new markets by 2025.
“The potential for growth is what excites us the most. There’s still so much room to better serve millions of families in Kenya. That’s just the beginning — MoKo’s model is relevant for most markets in Africa, where families face similar obstacles in making comfortable, welcoming homes,” said Kouskalis.
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