Jetstream, based in Ghana, raises $3 million to develop technology solutions for Africa trade corridors

Jetstream raises $3 million to develop technology solutions for Africa's trade corridors

Jetstream, based in Ghana, has raised $3 million in a seed round to develop digital infrastructure for Africa's trade corridors. Alitheia IDF, Golden Palm Investments, 4DX Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Asia Pacific Land, Breyer Labs, and MSA Capital were among the investors.

Previously, the company received pre-seed funding through the PeaceTech accelerator from Hustle Fund in San Francisco and C5 Capital in London. Additionally, it was the only Ghanaian startup in this year's Catalyst Fund Inclusive Fintech Program cohort. Additionally, Ingressive Capital includes the company in its portfolio.

Miishe Addy and Solomon Torgbo founded the company in 2018 with the goal of enabling African businesses to see and control their cross-border supply chains. It leverages technology to streamline and simplify the movement of cargo across borders.

As Addy explained to attendees at AB2020's 2019 Tech in Ghana Accra event, Jetstream began as a logistics company for South African cosmetics manufacturers. They combined airfreight shipments of finished shea and other products for distribution in the United States.

However, the founders quickly recognized that the majority of distribution issues occurred further up the supply chain, in areas such as Northern and Eastern Ghana. Millions of smallholder farmers and SME processors produce ingredients in these locations, which then travel through lengthy and complex supply chains to markets in the United States, South Africa, and Europe.

According to TechCrunch, the CEO stated, "For about a year, we discussed and tested a variety of different solutions and discovered that cargo aggregation gained significant traction almost immediately." 

Going forward

Finally, Jetstream began operations in Ghana in March 2019 with the launch of a Less Than Container Load (LCL) aggregation service — a shipment in small quantities that does not require the entire capacity of a container. It facilitated the grouping of agricultural exporters' shipments into shared sea freight containers.

Jetstream will add trade finance in November 2020 for customers who have difficulty fulfilling large purchase orders.

The company is currently white-labeling — providing services or products that other businesses rebrand as their own — its in-house developed systems for managing customer shipments and financing.

Addy previously taught business at Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), while Torgbo spent eight years at Maersk's freight forwarding subsidiary Damco; their experiences have aided them in running the company.

Between 2000 and 2017, Africa's share of global exports ranged between 80% and 90%. And this is a significant catalyst for the continent's newly established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to stimulate regional commerce.

The company is well-positioned to assist with this transition, particularly given its location in Ghana. The West African country is a leading proponent of the AfCFTA initiative and is home to Port Tema, West and Central Africa's largest container terminal, with plans to handle one million containers per year.

Along with Port Tema, Jetstream counts an unnamed global shipping line based in Asia as a significant customer and early adopter of its technology. This has resulted in the business generating seven-figure revenue, and Addy claims that the startup is growing at a rate of more than 100% year over year.

Jetstream also operates in Nigeria, with agents in South Africa, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe — a strategic move toward the company's ten-year goal of delivering agricultural products to any enterprise in need, particularly in Africa. 

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