Tushop’s community-group buying model enables customers in the capital to buy fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) at a fraction of the costs while providing opportunities for “community leaders” to make income. Cathy Chepkemboi who serves as CEO, founded the company in 2021 after being inspired by her experiences at Unilever and Moko Kenya, an e-commerce furniture store.

The company works with agents, who collect orders from neighbours and manage door-to-door deliveries. Each community leader has a virtual store where locals can order their food items, which Tushop aggregates into a bulk order to manufacturers and other FMCG producers such as farmers. 

Chepkemboi says its group buying scheme saves shoppers 60 percent on groceries, even with leaders earning sales commission, compared to when shopping with supermarkets and other traditional means like open-air markets. Tushop claims Kenyans spend 46 percent of their income on food, aiming to reduce this figure to no more than 10 percent through its services.

Tushop will use the $3 million to expand its team, invest in warehouses and delivery trucks, make its platform more user friendly, and scale its business in Nairobi before rolling out its services to the rest of the East African country. The oversubscribed funding round, led by 4DX Ventures, also had participation from Wasoko, Jam Fund, Chandaria Capital, FirstCheck Africa, Breyer Capital, Golden Palm Investments, TO Ventures, and DFS Labs.