Kenyan AI-Driven Conversational E-commerce Startup Elloe Raises $1m Pre-Seed Round

Elloe is a first-of-its-kind AI-powered conversational commerce platform that allows SMEs to buy and sell products online across any messaging platform. It was founded by Owen Sakawa.

Mad Ventures, located in the Philippines, led the US$1 million pre-seed fundraising round, which would help Elloe expand across Kenya and other emerging economies.

“The opportunity to engage with Mad Ventures and join its developing livelihood ecosystem as digital ambassadors to local Kenyan entrepreneurs excites and humbles us.” “We will have enough runway to build our local Kenyan operations and fuel expansion into the Philippine and Southeast Asia markets well into 2023 and beyond with the new finances,” Sakawa added.

“In response to the demands of businesses and customers in emerging countries, Mad Ventures continues to make significant progress in providing digital livelihood possibilities to the unemployed and unbanked.” Mad Ventures CEO Aaron Madolara remarked, “We are happy to be joining Elloe to increase our collective reach and support businesses, particularly underserved micro-SMEs, in realizing their full potential.”