Nigerian-based trade technologies startup, Norebase, has announced the completion of its pre-seed funding round. The startup which is building a single platform for businesses to start, scale, and operate in African countries, raised $1 million from a number of investors.
The fundraising round was led by investors like Samurai Incubate, and Consonance Investment.
Other participants in the funding round include Sahil Lavingia (Gumroad), Kinfolk VC, Future Africa, Ventures Platform, Microtraction, Boleh Venture, Voltron Capital, Wuri Ventures, and Afropreneur.
Angel investors from African tech ecosystem leaders who participated in the investment round include Shola Akinlade (Paystack), Odunayo Eweniyi (Piggyvest), Adia Sowho (MTN Nigeria), Akin Oyebode, and Seni Sulyman.
Norebase affirms that the funds will be used to upscale its plug-and-play API, hire more hands, and broaden its trademark registration technology.
Speaking on the idea behind the startup, Norebase CEO, Adetola Onayemi said the inspiration came from his engagement with clients while working as a technical adviser to the vice president of Nigeria.
“I had done all this work in policy, ease of doing business, free trade agreement, and I was advising some people in tech who would say, ‘listen, I just raised new capital to enter new markets, I dont know how I’m supposed to navigate it,'” Onayemi told TechCrunch.
Onayemi, who also co-founded African-focused VC firm, Future Africa, said Norebase creates a platform for startups to build on, and push their solutions to the market.
“Providing a framework where people can operate and scale their solutions to several markets at once is incredibly important. […] Our solution is for people in the local market moving into their first market or a company in their fourth market trying to scale their enterprise,” Onayemi added.
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Norebase was founded in September 2021. The startup prides itself of empowering startups to get incorporated in any African country within a few minutes, and scale expansion in a matter of weeks. The startup has operations in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mauritius and Burkina Faso.
The incorporation-as-a-service startup claims to have made a 100% month-on-month transactional growth in the last six months. It has also recorded a 40% month-on-month growth in revenue in the same period.
