SOTE

01 / WHAT IT BUILT

What the company did

Sote was building the digital logistics infrastructure for Africa: a tech-enabled customs clearing and forwarding service — Africa's first licensed tech-enabled clearing agent — with a real-time dashboard giving industrial importers, exporters, manufacturers and distributors visibility into shipment status, payment history and container arrival times. Founded in 2018 by Kenyan-born Felix Orwa with Meka Este-McDonald and Scott Yacko, it operated from Nairobi and San Francisco and later expanded into fintech working-capital lending for supply chains. It raised about $8.4 million in total: a $3 million seed in 2020 led by MaC Venture Capital, and a $4 million seed extension in January 2022 led by Social Capital, with MaC doubling down. It held Authorised Economic Operator certification and reported 370% customer growth and 200% revenue growth in 2021.

03 / EVENT HISTORY

Events in the structured record

1. 2018
   Founded

   Felix Orwa, Meka Este-McDonald and Scott Yacko found Sote to digitise African trade logistics.

2. 2020
   Seed funding

   Sote raises a $3 million seed round led by MaC Venture Capital; total raised reaches $4.4 million; reported 33% month-over-month growth.

3. 2022
   Seed extension and fintech push

   In January 2022 Sote raises a $4 million seed extension led by Social Capital, bringing total funding to $8.4 million; adds working-capital lending for supply chains and hires a fintech director and CFO.