Executive Summary

Rapera is a hybrid IoT and software company building predictive LPG intelligence infrastructure for households, small businesses, and distributors across Africa. Our platform combines affordable smart hardware with real-time software analytics to eliminate unexpected gas runouts, improve distribution efficiency, and modernize LPG management across underserved markets. We are raising US$250,000 in a pre-seed equity round to scale manufacturing of the Rapera R1, execute our first 500-unit distributor pilot, strengthen our AI-powered software platform, and validate demand forecasting with LPG distributors ahead of commercial scale-up. Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Simbarashe leads Rapera’s overall vision, strategy, product direction, fundraising, partnerships, and execution. He brings a combination of entrepreneurial resilience, software development exposure, and firsthand operational experience from previously owning and operating two food truck businesses that relied heavily on LPG systems. Through this experience, he directly encountered the inefficiencies and unpredictability of LPG supply management, which inspired the creation of Rapera. In addition to his entrepreneurial background, Simbarashe has contributed to software and technical projects connected to organizations such as Lyft and JPMorgan, strengthening his exposure to scalable systems, product thinking, and technology-driven execution. His strengths include startup leadership, product strategy, business development, investor engagement, and infrastructure-focused innovation. Chantell Msiza Co-Founder & Sustainability & Operations Lead Chantell contributes expertise across sustainability, environmental management, operational coordination, and consumer-focused product alignment. Her background in food science and environmental management strengthens Rapera’s positioning as a climate-conscious infrastructure company focused on improving cleaner energy reliability across African markets. She supports operational planning, ecosystem engagement, sustainability integration, and long-term climate-tech positioning while helping ensure Rapera remains grounded in real-world user needs and practical deployment realities. Rapera is currently a pre-revenue climate technology startup preparing for its first commercial pilot and pre-seed fundraising round. The company is raising US$250,000 in equity financing to fund manufacturing, pilot deployment, product development, and go-to-market execution. Our three-year financial model projects revenue growth from R591,500 in Year 1 to R8.39 million by Year 3, driven by a combination of hardware sales and recurring SaaS subscriptions for LPG distributors. Gross margins improve from 47.9% in Year 1 to 52.8% in Year 3 as software becomes a larger share of revenue. While EBITDA remains negative during the initial growth phase due to investment in engineering, manufacturing readiness, and customer acquisition, the model reflects a deliberate strategy of building an installed hardware base that supports high-margin recurring software revenue. Rapera's hardware economics are contribution-positive, with an average selling price of R1,099, a manufacturing cost of approximately R600, and a gross profit of R499 per device before customer acquisition costs. The company expects to deploy an initial 500-unit pilot, followed by broader distributor-led rollouts that drive recurring subscription revenue and improve long-term unit economics. Our objective is to achieve sustainable operating leverage and EBITDA breakeven after establishing a meaningful installed base and recurring software revenue stream. Rapera operates at the intersection of clean energy, climate technology, IoT, and enterprise software, serving the rapidly growing LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) sector across Africa. LPG is increasingly being adopted as a cleaner alternative to biomass and kerosene, driven by urbanization, government clean cooking initiatives, and rising demand for safer, more reliable household energy. Despite this growth, LPG distribution remains largely manual and data-poor, with households lacking visibility into remaining gas levels and distributors relying on reactive refill requests rather than real-time consumption data. Rapera addresses this gap by providing a connected hardware and software platform that enables households to monitor LPG levels while giving distributors predictive demand forecasting, inventory planning, and customer insights. This positions the company within the fast-growing EnergyTech and Industrial IoT markets, where digital infrastructure is transforming traditional energy supply chains. Rapera's initial focus is South Africa, with a long-term opportunity across Sub-Saharan Africa, where tens of millions of households rely on LPG for cooking and governments continue to promote clean cooking adoption. As distributors modernize their operations and seek greater efficiency, there is a significant opportunity for data-driven platforms that improve service reliability, reduce operational costs, and increase customer retention. Rapera's long-term vision is to become the intelligence layer powering LPG distribution across emerging markets through recurring software and data services.