On Monday, OmniRetail, a Nigerian B2B shopping platform, revealed that it had raised $20 million in a Series A fundraising round headed by Timon Capital and Norfund. Ventures Platform, Aruwa Capital, Goodwell Investments, and Flour Mills of Nigeria also participated in this round. This marks Norfund’s first direct equity investment in an African startup.
OmniRetail’s business model and growth
OmniRetail, which was founded in 2019 by Deepankar Rustagi, digitises supply chain processes for more than 150,000 unofficial retailers in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.
The platform offers inventory management, embedded credit, and digital payments. It operates an asset-light model, leveraging a network of 1,100 vehicles and 85 logistics partners. Last year, the company processed N1.3 trillion ($810 million) in transactions, growing its EBITDA to positive in 2023 and turning a profit in 2024. The company’s buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offering pays out N19 billion ($12 million) monthly with almost no defaults because of its thorough underwriting and close merchant integration.
Additionally, OmniRetail strengthened its payment infrastructure in 2024 by acquiring Traction Apps, a Nigerian company, which allowed for customised financial products and complete visibility into retailer-level sales data.
$20 million fuels OmniRetail’s growth strategy
OmniRetail intends to use the additional funding to increase its market share in current markets and enter new product categories like cold storage, home care, and personal care. The company plans to improve embedded finance products, strengthen its credit underwriting capabilities, and make strategic acquisitions. Additionally, it is expanding its logistics network and fortifying its alliances with domestic lenders.
Deepankar Rustagi, CEO of OmniRetail, said, “Every transaction in the FMCG value chain has two sides: the movement of goods and the movement of funds. Today, we are in a position to aggregate maximum benefits from every transaction in the value chain, whether it’s sourcing goods efficiently, facilitating payments, or providing working capital and value-added services like marketing for the retailer.”
Norfund’s Cathrine Conradi added, “Embedded finance is one of the most transformative tools for small business growth in Africa. OmniRetail’s model brings capital to areas where traditional systems haven’t reached”.
As OmniRetail develops and expands throughout West Africa, this fundraising round puts it in a great position to compete with other B2B e-commerce platforms in Africa, such as TradeDepot and Wasoko.