Nigerian startup Gifty has launched a digital storefront creation platform that allows merchants to list their products and get a unique link for their shop to start receiving orders via direct message.
Formed in January 2022 by Victor Akpan (CEO), David Enejison (CTO), and Francisca David (COO), Gifty allows users to set up their digital storefronts in less than five minutes.
It already has hundreds of users, with Akpan saying vendors liked the ease of use and how its workflow delivered order summaries directly onto active communication lines.
“Subscription drives our revenue, and progressively we’ll introduce ads and other value services like payments and APIs for offline store inventory. We have paying customers but we tend to unboard more users on the free tier now, before they find a need for paying subscriptions,” he said.
Gifty has thus far been self-funded, but is currently working on a round with multiple investors. Akpan said it is Nigeria-focused, but does have interest from across the continent.
“We plan expanding to other African countries within the year as part of our user acquisition plan,” he said.
