Kukula Capital, a Zambian venture capital investor, and eVentures Africa Fund (eVA), a Dutch venture capital fund specializing in E-commerce in Africa, have invested $500,000 in Dot Com Zambia, a growing e-commerce company.

The investment, which is a combination of debt and equity, will enable Dot Com Zambia to grow its existing e-commerce business and roll out its proprietary digital bus ticketing system across Zambia and the Southern African region.

Vincent Kouwenhoven, MD of eVA Fund, said: “Dot Com Zambia is led by one of the most inspiring young entrepreneurs we’ve met and the organization fits with eVA’s mandate to build world-class technology platforms for Africa.”

eVentures Africa Fund was the first venture capital fund to invest in African technology driven companies nearly six years ago under the philosophy that it is African IT-engineers and tech-entrepreneurs that are best suited to deploy technology for African issues.

Kouwenhoven added: “While many more of todays investors are looking for investment opportunities like Dot Com Zambia in the ‘major markets’, in Nigeria and Kenya, we are the first Tech fund investing in this space in Zambia. And we believe with this investment, a Zambian tech-entrepreneur can set the example for his country, for the Southern Region of Africa, and one day maybe, for the whole of Africa.”

Kukula Capital is the only locally domiciled venture capital firm in Zambia and Dot Com Zambia becomes its seventh investment into a Zambian SME since its inception in 2010.

Nyboe Andersen, MD of Kukula Capital, said that Dot Com Zambia is a clear strengthening of Kukula’s portfolio: “What excites me about the transaction is that we are investing in a company that has the potential to scale rapidly on the basis of leading technology.”

Headquartered in Lusaka, Dot Com Zambia is the fastest growing e-commerce company in Zambia with 18 employees and $741,000 in revenues in 2014.

Dot Com Zambia has two subsidiaries: Import Zambia, an e-commerce platform that allows Zambian customers to shop from local and international retailers, and Book Now Zambia, which includes the Bus Tickets Zambia brand, a technology platform that allows customers to reserve, pay and receive bus tickets electronically.

Book Now Zambia has already signed contracts with some of the major Zambian bus operators that will use the technology to sell their tickets in a way that is both faster and smarter in addition to optimizing their operations.

Mawano Kambeu, founder and CEO of Dot Com Zambia, said: “With eVA and Kukula on board, Dot Com Zambia has the expertise and financial muscle that will allow us to enhance our operations and grow faster to create value for our clients and the Zambian economy.”