NBa Kenyan B2B supply chain and logistics SaaS provider launched last year to optimize fleet management, is looking for growth opportunities in West Africa, even as it scales its operations in its existing five markets.
Leta’s patented route and load optimization technology is designed to increase efficiency in the delivery of goods to customers and reduce the number of vehicles required for distribution, leading to cost savings and increased competitiveness.
In its expansion phase, backed by a $3 million pre-seed funding, the startup looks set to tap into some of the largest distributors and e-commerce players in Ghana and later Nigeria to grow beyond Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The 4Di Capital, Chandaria Capital, Chui Ventures, PANI, Samurai Incubate and Verdant Frontiers Fintech participated in the round. Cellulant co-founder Ken Njoroge and Google CEO Charles Murito also made investments.
“Our next year is going to be pretty big for us. Our product has stabilized and we have a very good understanding of our sales process and go-to-market strategy. The capital we have raised will help us scale quickly into new markets, starting with Ghana, where we will launch in December,” said Leta founder and CEO, Nick Joshi told businessroundups.org, adding that it is working on a transportation marketplace as well as fintech products.
A SaaS provider for businesses, logistics providers and marketplaces
Joshi founded Leta after a two-year stint as VP of product at Delivery.com in the US, where he partnered with a variety of carriers to help the marketplace achieve last-mile efficiencies in more than 35 states. He said the job made him realize how supply issues are dynamic and will continue to be a challenge everywhere.
This experience inspired him to move back home to launch Leta, as a transformative support service for businesses, logistics providers and marketplaces such as Sendy and Amitruk.
“We are a logistics operating system and our software can show distributors the most efficient route to serve the customers faster, and enable them to use fewer assets (vehicles) to serve more customers,” said Joshi.
“It also makes it possible to track the driver, the specific goods transported, the loading of the truck to know if the space utilization is maximized, the time spent during the journey and the distance covered,” he added.
Businesses can also measure other vehicle metrics such as speed, braking and idling, among other data points that determine operational efficiency.
Carriers use the driver app, which shows them all the different stops they need to make, in order, and signs a form for proof of delivery. Customers receive a web link from their side to track the delivery of their orders.
Since launching, Leta says it has optimized more than 500,000 deliveries, delivered more than 20,000 tons of goods and managed 2,000 vehicles.
Among the more than 20 major companies the startup currently partners with are pan-African fast-food giant Simbisa Brands, fast-moving consumer goods conglomerate Chandaria Industries, whose family firm invested in its latest round, B2B e-commerce distribution platform Twiga, and ShopZetu, a fashion marketplace. .
“As a leading FMCG player in the region, we are continuously optimizing our business to best meet growing demand. Leta has played a vital role in streamlining our last mile distribution, and we are seeing significant savings in our logistics costs in addition to improved delivery time. After working closely with the Leta team, we were impressed with the team, the technology they are building and the magnitude of the problem they are solving, which prompted our investment from Chandaria Capital.” said Darshan Chandaria, CEO of Chandaria Capital.
Joshi said Leta has a first mover advantage in the region and will continue to build and refine its technology IP and products to serve the huge gaps it sees in the market.
The transport marketplace that the company plans to launch will allow its customers to request additional vans when their fleet is insufficient.
“Using our software, they will then be able to request more vehicles and we can quickly connect them to additional providers.”
“Our platform also tracks things like usage and we can match them (distributors) with the best suppliers available. Why this is interesting is, rather than doing the same thing other marketplaces are doing today, which is renting out a truck to a customer for one service. A truck can handle multiple loads because we have the ability to utilize the load.”
The startup is also in talks with financial services companies to offer asset financing to help customers expand their fleets.
“We want to do it in a very structured way and our technology is a great base layer to allow us to build other products.”
