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SweepSouth: a loan to a home cleaning service platform in South Africa
Project
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Signature date
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Location
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South Africa
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Financing tool
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Financing amount (Euro)
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400000
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Financing details
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EUR 400,000 loan
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Customer
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Shift South Proprietary Limited
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Type of customer
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Company
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Country of headquarters
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South Africa
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Project number
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PZA1122
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Environmental and social ranking
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C
This information is given at the time of signature, without prejudice to any developments in the operation/project.
Proparco has allocated financing to the South African start-up SweepSouth, allowing it to continue its business after 2020 which was affected by the Covid-19 crisis.
Client presentation
SweepSouth is a mobile and web booking platform for on-demand home cleaning services set up in 2014 by Aisha Pandor and Alen Ribic. The platform acts as an extensive directory for women and men cleaning staff, called the SweepStars. SweepSouth provides the client with the most suitable SweepStar depending on their request and also proposes a price for the service.
SweepSouth currently has 20,000 SweepStars on the platform with 180,000 clients and about 60,000 bookings per month. SweepSouth experienced strong growth between 2015 and 2019 with a turnover of USD 1.1m for 2019, corresponding to about 260,000 bookings on the platform.
Project description
With the Covid-19 crisis, the company was unable to operate in April and May 2020 as all the economic activities, except for essential activities, were stopped in South Africa.
Proparco's EUR 400,000 of financing will allow SweepSouth to extend the company’s runway by 5 to 6 months and confidently continue its business until the next fundraising scheduled for late 2021.
This financing is part of the Bridge Fund by Digital Africa. This fund allows young start-ups to obtain financing by following an accelerated process which will only be repaid after two years or at the next fundraising.
Project impact
The Bridge Fund by Digital Africa is an acceleration and growth tool for start-ups and a solution in response to the increased financing difficulties related to the Covid-19 crisis.