Bareconnect has been selected as the winner of Renew Capital’s Sprint program pitch competition, emerging as the top performer from a competitive cohort of 30 startups across five African countries.
The Sprint program, designed to accelerate early-stage African startups through intensive mentorship and capital readiness training, brought together companies addressing critical infrastructure gaps, including Wolftech Industries from Mozambique (industrial solutions), Whoz (identity verification), App Cyclers (waste management), HiveNetwork (connectivity), Castor Care Ghana (elder care) and more.
“Bareconnect stood out for addressing the structural challenge of fragmented business tools used by informal merchants,” said a representative from Renew Capital. “The team is building foundational operational infrastructure that structures merchant data, strengthens business visibility, and creates long-term pathways for sustainable growth.”
Driving SME Digitisation in Africa
The selection validates Bareconnect’s approach to SME digitisation — consolidating fragmented business tools into a unified operational system that enables merchants to manage inventory, payments, and orders more efficiently. By structuring transaction data, the platform lays the groundwork for future financial access opportunities.
“Millions of African merchants operate profitable businesses but still manage them manually or across fragmented tools,” said Joshua Baah, Founder and CEO of Bareconnect. “Our immediate focus is helping them digitise operations — inventory, payments, and order management — so they can run more efficient, scalable businesses. Over time, structured transaction data creates opportunities for financial access and market expansion.”
Bareconnect Addresses Three Critical Merchant Needs
Operational Digitisation: A unified dashboard for inventory, payments, and order management that replaces manual processes and disconnected tools.
Financial Data Structuring
Every transaction, payment, and inventory movement becomes structured digital data — a foundational layer that merchants previously lacked. A seller generating 15,000 cedis per month can begin building a verifiable performance history over time.
Market Expansion: Custom merchant storefronts extend customer reach beyond local markets and WhatsApp networks, enabling buyers to discover and transact with trusted sellers across regions.
Early Traction & Unit Economics
To date, Bareconnect has processed over $300,000 in gross merchandise value, reflecting consistent merchant activity and strong unit economics. This traction comes from merchants generating between 3,000 and 30,000 cedis per month, validating demand within Ghana’s “invisible middle” SME segment.
The win provides Bareconnect with continued access to Renew Capital’s investor network, go-to-market support, and additional positioning as the company advances its ongoing pre-seed financing round.
“The cohort taught us something valuable,” Baah added. “Whether you’re solving identity verification, healthcare access, or merchant financial inclusion — the pattern is the same. African markets don’t need more apps. They need operating systems that create structured data from informal operations. That’s how you unlock capital, unlock markets, and unlock scale.”
Bareconnect focuses on merchants generating between 3,000 and 30,000 cedis per month — too small for enterprise platforms like Shopify, yet operationally complex for basic social commerce tools. This segment represents an estimated 200,000+ businesses in Ghana alone.
“We’re not trying to serve every merchant,” Baah said. “We’re focused on the invisible middle — viable businesses that still operate without structured digital systems and are limited to local customer bases. That’s our wedge.”
The company’s roadmap includes deepening its core commerce infrastructure, expanding merchant discoverability tools, and strengthening data integrity systems that improve operational transparency and long-term trust.
Learn more about other African tech startups on Labari Insights, our data repository for tech in Africa: insights.techlabari.com
