Taeillo, a Nigerian furniture manufacturer, has secured a $2.5 million investment from Aruwa Capital Management, an early-stage growth equity and gender lens fund.
Founded by Jumoke Dada in 2018, Taeillo is a technology-enabled furniture company that locally manufactures and retails mass-market and premium Afrocentric furniture and lifestyle products across various product categories, selling directly to its B2C and B2B customers through its e-commerce platform.
At launch, Taeillo commenced business as a custom furniture designer serving B2B clientele, however, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for the Company to serve B2C customers who needed locally manufactured high-quality, affordable, furniture pieces.
As a local manufacturer of quality and affordable furniture pieces, the Company’s solution is critical for the African continent where the alternative is to import bulky, expensive furniture from the United Kingdom, United States or China, incurring significant costs combined with an unstable exchange rate, and enduring long wait periods of 3 – 6 months before furniture is delivered.
Taeillo is revolutionizing this space by providing locally manufactured well-designed, flat-pack furniture using raw materials sourced from Africa to provide customers with aesthetically pleasing furniture pieces at a fraction of the importation price and with a 50% reduction in delivery time to about 4 – 8 weeks.
The Company has also incorporated augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology into its e-commerce platform to enhance customers’ shopping experience, by creating an immersive experience on the website where customers can shuffle between materials, colours and furniture dimensions before making a buying decision.
Leveraging VR technology, the Company can rapidly expand across regions without incurring additional showroom costs, typical with traditional furniture businesses as they offer virtual showrooms to customers. Taeillo is now present in two African countries: Nigeria and Kenya, shipping c.10,000 pieces of furniture to over 5,000 customers in Nigeria and Kenya, with complete ownership of its value chain.
Jumoke Dada, Founder & CEO of Taeillo, said: “We are excited to partner with Aruwa Capital on our journey and welcome them as equity investors in the business. The Aruwa team has been instrumental in providing strategic guidance and making necessary introductions to facilitate our global growth and expansion plans.
“This investment by Aruwa Capital will take us closer to our goal of becoming the IKEA of Africa by providing quality, ready-to-assemble, made-in-Africa furniture pieces at an affordable price point for the mass market, while also optimizing our operations, delivery time, and customer experience. We are grateful to the Aruwa Capital team for their belief in our vision.”
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder & Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital, said: “We are thrilled to announce this investment into Taeillo as it aligns with nearly all of our investment objectives.
“Since its inception, the Company has maintained its innovative model in a traditional brick-and-mortar industry, creating a unique value proposition for its customers in a fast-growing, underserved market. By leveraging technology in its value chain, Taeillo has been able to achieve exponential growth in less than 2 years, achieving results that take traditional furniture companies decades to complete.
“In line with Aruwa’s gender lens investing strategy, Taeillo is founded and led by a woman and has a 50% female representation in its management team. We are very confident in the Company’s ability to scale across Africa and are thrilled to be partnering with the team for the exciting journey ahead.”
