Nairobi, Kenya – Powered By People (PBP), the B2B wholesale platform connecting makers in 46 countries with buyers in North America and beyond through secure transactions, announced that it has raised an $8 million Series A funding round led by Altos Ventures and Golden Ventures with participation from Susa Ventures. The funding will allow PBP to continue the development of its innovative platform and expand its reach into new markets.

Founded by Ella Peinovich, PBP was created to make ethical, sustainable, and social-impact buying easy and risk-free for both buyers and makers. The Creative Manufacturing and Handmade sector is one of the fastest-growing global industries but is hampered by communications and digital shortcomings. PBP solves this problem by providing a curated digital marketplace for buyers and makers to conduct business.

Buyers can customize products from a highly functional platform on flexible payment terms while makers—from Ghana to India to Guatemala—can massively expand their customer base simply by uploading their wares to the Powered By People site. The team members located in America, Canada, Kenya, India, and Mexico connect all the dots for financing for the makers, facilitate orders and identify emerging trends that buyers want on their shelves.