South African-based e-commerce startup Yebo Fresh, has secured ZAR 78 million ($4.5 million) in a new funding round led by Enza Capital, with participation from Swiss impact investor Elea Foundation, and Harvest, the local investment fund of Endeavor. E4E Africa, a previous investor also participated in this round.

According to the startup, the funding will be used to promote its order-to-delivery service that carters to providing townships with fresh groceries and food. The startup also announced a Jobs Fund grant as part of the Series A round.

Yebo Fresh was launched in 2018 in the garage of founder Jessica Boonstra’s home. The startup is an online shopping service for township communities that delivers groceries to areas that are generally unserved by most formal retailers. 

Yebo Fresh also disclosed that it now delivers services to more than 25 townships in the greater Cape Town and Johannesburg areas. Orders are placed via WhatsApp or through the Yebo Fresh team of field sales agents, with Yebo Fresh using a dark store-based fulfillment model to deliver orders within 24 hours. The startup also offers a buy-now-pay-later option.

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“The township market is growing rapidly, and we are proud to be at the forefront of its digital revolution,” said Boonstra, Yebo Fresh’s CEO. “This funding will allow us to grow into new product categories and market segments, expand our systems and warehousing infrastructure, and explore further partnership opportunities with strategic players in the market. It will also assist us in gathering even more data insights, further strengthening our unique position in this massive market segment.”

John Lazar, general partner at Enza Capital, said he was “thrilled” to back the “exceptional” Yebo Fresh team. 

“They are fundamentally changing the way essential goods are provided to the township market, an underserved but vibrant and growing segment of the South African economy,” he said.

The Jobs Fund grant specifically will be used to provide technology, coaching, and physical resources to thousands of South African-owned businesses in townships to help them grow and remain competitive. This includes investing in digital infrastructure, providing a range of resources and free training to small business owners to improve their operations, decrease their costs, and increase their sales.