Norebase, a Nigeria-based trade technology firm announced on Wednesday that it has secured $1M pre-seed funding round.
The funding round was co-led by Samurai Incubate and Consonance Investment. Sahil Lavingia (Gumroad) and Kinfolk VC also invested in this fundraise. The round also included participation from Future Africa, Ventures Platform, Microtraction, Boleh Venture, Voltron Capital, Wuri Ventures, Afropreneur, and angel investments from African tech ecosystem leaders Shola Akinlade (Paystack), Odunayo Eweniyi (Piggyvest), Adia Sowho (MTN Nigeria), Akin Oyebode, and Seni Sulyman.
This raise, the firm says will help accelerate its plans to build a plug-and-play company incorporation technology, broaden its trademark registration technology stack, bolster its existing team of world-class talent and develop more research-led solutions. Norebase is building Africa’s company and trademark platform that simplifies the start and scale processes for businesses in the continent and beyond.
“Norebase is building a future where starting a business or expanding a business in any African country is as simple as clicking a single button, and we are deliberately building the single digital infrastructure and technology tools that will power trade across the continent.” Tola Onayemi, CEO at Norebase, said.
“We are delighted to be joined by a stellar roster of experienced and strategic investors, whose expertise will play a key role as we scale the Norebase goal of being partners for set-up, compliance, regulatory needs for both cross-border expansions and local markets. Given our global and Africa-wide ambitions, we consciously ensured our investors came from across Africa and the world .” Tola added.
Launched in September 2021, Norebase is laser-focused on building a two-pronged platform that offers African and non-African businesses access to the African continent as one big market while creating a channel where African founders can access the international markets (such as the USA). Using Norebase, established companies can expand to new locations while new businesses can be incorporated in any African country of their choice in just a few minutes. In addition, Norebase’s platform provides a single point for startup founders and entrepreneurs to register a company, get a bank account, get a virtual mailing address and even register a trademark and handle IP registration in any African country.
Norebase says it is also focused on ensuring the Intellectual Property of startups in Africa and international companies expanding to the continent are securely protected as they scale and navigate multiple territories. The company has helped founders incorporate companies in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo, Tanzania, Egypt, Mauritius, and Burkina Faso among other countries. It also recently started offering incorporation services in the U.S. The company has delivered 100% month-on-month growth in transaction volumes for the last six months, with a 40% M-o-M growth in revenue during the same period. Norebase is powering the growth ambition of several innovative companies so that innovators can focus entirely on their core business. This is reflected in Norebase’s clients like Brass, Nestcoin, Patricia, Edenlife, GetEquity, Orda, Kloudcommerce, Send.ng, Workpay, Sudo Africa etc
Norebase has also rolled out Norebase Incorporation API, an application programming interface service to enable other companies to provide incorporation services to their own customers via their websites. By integrating with Norebase API, any company can provide its customer with a simple form, and the information filled on that form is automatically transmitted to Norebase to register a business on behalf of that customer.
Norebase’s Incorporation API is currently available for incorporating business in Nigeria, USA and Kenya with additional markets being added overtime.