MarketForce YC Application

Summer 2020Active

MarketForce went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2020 batch as a B2B company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Summer 2020
Industry: B2BRetail
Team size: 400
Status: Active
Launched: 2020

Founders

Mesongo SibutiFounder
Tesh MbaabuFounder

What MarketForce does

MarketForce empowers neighbourhood merchants in Africa to source, order and pay for inventory digitally and conveniently, access a banking wallet with credit facilities, collect digital payments and earn extra income by offering agency baking services and reselling digital financial services such as airtime, electricity tokens and bill payments in their communities. Incorporated in 2019, MarketForce is a fast-growing company running an asset-light business model and is currently operational in 5 markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, with over 200,000 merchants and 180 consumer brands trading on the platform.

MarketForce's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

MarketForce, Summer 2020 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

MarketForce

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

The SuperApp for neighbourhood merchants in Africa.

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We built a platform that lets small merchants in Africa order inventory from suppliers, pay digitally, and access a wallet with credit facilities. They can also collect digital payments and resell financial services like airtime and bill payments in their communities.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in Nairobi, Kenya and the company will be based here after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Nairobi is the hub for our users - neighbourhood merchants - and where we have built our local team and market presence. Staying here keeps us close to the problem and customers.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real MarketForce YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from MarketForce's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like MarketForce would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.