Anka, the pan-African e-commerce platform for African creators formerly known as Afrikrea, has been acquired by the newly-formed Global Shop Group for an undisclosed sum, approximately two months after its French parent company MANSAART entered judicial liquidation.
The acquisition represents a rapid and forced sale following the collapse of the venture-backed startup’s parent entity. Court records from the Paris Economic Activities Court show that MANSAART (RCS 822 174 199) entered judicial recovery proceedings — a French procedure similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy — on July 1, 2025.
The recovery attempt failed swiftly. The procedure was converted to judicial liquidation, akin to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, on July 29, 2025, just 28 days later after authorities determined the company could not be saved. MANSAART had officially declared a cessation of payments to creditors as of May 7, 2025. The liquidation meant the company’s assets, primarily the Anka platform and its technology, were put up for sale by court-appointed liquidator Marie-Hélène Montravers to pay off creditors.
Founded in 2016 by Moulaye Tabouré, Abdoul Kadry Diallo, and Luc Perussault-Diallo, Anka originally launched as Afrikrea, a marketplace connecting African artisans and fashion designers with global customers. The platform later evolved into a full-stack infrastructure offering payment processing, logistics solutions, and marketplace services for African entrepreneurs to sell globally.
Over its lifetime, the company raised approximately $13.5 million in total capital. This included a $6.2 million pre-Series A round in 2022 and a subsequent $5 million investment in 2023 from backers including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Proparco, and the French Public Investment Bank (BPI).
Other notable investors on its cap table, whose equity was likely wiped out in the liquidation, included Saviu Ventures, Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), BESTSELLER Foundation, and the Joe & Clara Tsai Foundation’s Bluepool.
Despite the recent funding, the parent company became insolvent just months later. MANSAART, registered as a simplified joint-stock company operated what court filings described as “intermediation in the online sale of fashion, decoration, and textiles.”
The platform facilitated more than $60 million in transactions across 47 African countries, reaching customers in over 170 markets. Anka claimed to have created more than 10,000 jobs across 46 African countries during its operational period.
The platform gained recognition for enabling African entrepreneurs to access international markets. A BBC report from August 2025 profiled Nigerian designer Shakirat Arigbabu, whose business Keerah’s Fashion Cave reportedly sold over $500,000 worth of prom dresses to US customers through Anka’s infrastructure, employing around 200 people in Nigeria. Bloomberg also featured Anka among its top 25 African startups to watch in 2025.
New Ownership and Leadership Transition
Global Shop Group, the acquiring entity, was founded in 2024 and is led by Matilda Ceesay, a seasoned Gambia-born executive with strategy and fashion experience from Nike, American Eagle, Ralph Lauren, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
According to the acquisition announcement, Global Shop Group is committed to “preserving ANKA’s brand, culture, and team,” and the platform will “continue to operate autonomously.” The platform’s existing operations and customer base are expected to remain intact as the new ownership takes control.
However, the three Anka co-founders, including CEO Moulaye Tabouré, will transition out of the business after nearly a decade.
“At ANKA, we’ve spent years building the infrastructure that makes global African trade possible,” Tabouré said in the official statement. “But we always knew that to scale our creators’ businesses truly, we needed to go beyond technology. Global Shop’s strategy and its team’s deep experience in fashion are exactly what was missing to take ANKA to the next level.”
In a separate statement, Tabouré confirmed his departure, noting his “shift is coming to an end” after nearly a decade. He praised the new leadership, stating, “Who better to lead this new chapter than Matilda Ceesay, whose experience and network will propel our shared dream even further.”
Global Shop Group stated the acquisition would accelerate its “build of a multi-brand ecosystem.”
The rapid collapse of MANSAART — from receivership to liquidation in under a month — suggests the parent company’s financial situation was beyond recovery despite having secured significant funding less than two years prior. Neither Global Shop Group nor Anka disclosed the acquisition price, though the distressed nature of the sale likely resulted in a significantly reduced valuation for the once-prominent African startup.