South African shipping company for eCommerce exporters, TUNL, has completed a seed round to boost marketing support for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This funding comes ten months after the startup announced its $1 million pre-seed funding to accelerate its expansion within its primary market, South Africa. At the same time, it aims to break into other key African and emerging markets.
Venture capital firm E4E Africa, along with investors like Jonathan Smit, Jozi Angels, and Utopia Capital Management. The new funding will enhance the startup’s rapid growth in the South African market, including product expansion into international payments and improved marketing support for SMEs.
“We want to ensure that every business, large or small, can have an equal chance to convert overseas sales. To do this, we are reducing the costs and friction of international shipping via our platform and tools.”, Craig Lowman, co-founder at TUNL stated.
Tatenda Nyamuda, partner at E4E Africa, drove home the platform’s potential to reshape the landscape for African SMEs. “We’re proud to support TUNL’s mission to empower African SMEs to compete on a global stage. Their platform is a game-changer, levelling the playing field and enabling e-commerce merchants and other SMEs across the continent to access new markets, solving the significant cost-logistics barrier.”
Sam Sturm, co-founder at 54 Collective, also expressed optimism about TUNL’s trajectory. “We invested early in TUNL because we’ve always thought that the problems they’re solving for South African merchants are global problems. We’re deep believers in what they’ve built so far and are excited for what’s next.”
TUNL was founded by Mathew Davey and Craig Lowman in 2021. Matthew Davey was an engineer, Rhodes Scholar and Oxford Masters graduate. He was most recently the managing director of a Dutch company that imported South African engineering materials into Europe. He established the company, and set up their European logistics network and stock warehousing. He resigned from that job in December to pursue TUNL full time.
On the other hand, Craig Lowman is an experienced import-export entrepreneur and recent MBA graduate from Columbia Business School and the Graduate School of Business, Cape Town. He had 10 years’ experience founding and managing various successful businesses, including two import and distribution companies with exclusive licenses for several global brands.
TUNL seeks to address inefficiency and high shipping costs – circumstances which constitute problems for small and medium-sized. Through its activities, it has been able to support SMEs to export more.
The startup offers 50% to 80% savings on international shipping costs by leveraging AI product classification technology, novel global duty and tax tools, and excellent customer service to provide SMEs with a streamlined and automated export shipping experience.
With over 1,300 SMEs already onboard, TUNL’s platform aims to continue driving growth for African businesses looking to expand their reach beyond local markets. The company’s next steps include expanding its technology stack and deepening its marketing capabilities, ensuring that more SMEs can navigate the complexities of international shipping and export logistics.
