Bosso Africa, an innovative Zambian startup revolutionizing the construction industry with its online marketplace for building materials, has secured $400,000 in pre-seed funding. The investment will be utilized to enhance the platform, introduce new features, and expand operations across Zambia.
Founded in 2022 by Chisepo Chirwa, Mukopaje Singogo, Ibn Kafwanka, and Salwa Shamapande, Bosso has quickly emerged as Zambia’s largest online marketplace for construction materials, catering to both businesses and individual consumers. The platform aims to address the significant housing deficit in Africa by providing quality and affordable building materials to everyone, everywhere in Zambia.
Bosso’s CEO, Chisepo Chirwa said, “We started as an online marketplace to simplify the sourcing of building materials for hardware stores, but have evolved into a comprehensive B2B and B2C solution to tackle the 60 million housing deficit across Africa.”
Bosso has already achieved significant milestones, onboarding over 1,000 hardware stores in Zambia, supplying materials to more than 200 homebuilders, and delivering construction materials to four out of the ten Zambian provinces. The pre-seed funding round was led by Leonard by Vinci, Launch Africa Ventures, Renew Capital, Change-Com, and various angel investors.
“In the remainder of 2024 and 2025, Bosso will leverage the two years of data accumulated to enhance our AI technology, further reducing inefficiencies in the sector. We will also launch a new platform incorporating essential services such as land conveyance, financing, ‘save now pay later,’ and access to construction companies,” explained Chirwa.
Bosso Africa ’s ambitious goals include sourcing materials for over 5,000 homes in 2025 and opening its seed round in August.
“The housing crisis is a real issue, and Africa needs companies like Bosso addressing it because everyone deserves decent and affordable housing,” Chirwa emphasized. “We aim to extend our mission to the entire continent, starting with Southern Africa, and introduce a new AI building materials assistant to accelerate our solution.”