Omnibiz, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce company, has recently secured a $15 million pre-Series A investment led by Timon Capital. The raise is structured as a $5M equity and $10M debt investment deal and saw participation from Ventures Platform, Lofty Inc, Chapel Hill Denham, Chandaria Capital, and Musha Ventures.
Founded in June 2019 by Deepankar Rustagi, Omnibiz unites neighbourhood retailers, distributors, third-party logistics partners, and FMCG manufacturers on a single platform while ensuring better ROI, volume growth, and reaching a wider audience through an effective distribution network. Present in over 12 cities in Ghana and Nigeria, Omnibiz provides retailers with a fully integrated digital platform. Retailers can purchase and restock conveniently from over 200 product brands, such as Coca-Cola and Nestle, through the Omnibiz app.
The fund was raised to begin further regional expansion, starting this month. Rustagi said the company wants to expand to second-tier cities in Nigeria like Ilorin, Asaba, and Akure, where retail is growing.
He added that there is no support in these cities and so, they see huge potential there. Omnibiz wants to become the primary B2B operating system for informal retailers in these cities by helping with last-mile delivery, procurement, working capital, inventory management, and operational tools for tracking sales, cost, prices, and profit.
Last August, the startup raised $3 million to expand into new markets within the country. The platform, which offers a mobile app, a WhatsApp channel, and a phone number that retailers can use to stock their shops, has since expanded its footprints into 12 cities across Nigeria while completing its first Pan-African move into Ghana.
“We have expanded in terms of the number of retailers,” Rustagi told TechCrunch about the company’s growth since its seed raise. “We’ve expanded in cities, geographically, and we have improved the overall system; the retention of the retailer, even with growing competition, has been phenomenal. And I think that’s what equips us for the next race.”
Omnibiz’s annual GMV of $130 million comes from these repeat retail customers. The company expects to increase the number of daily active retailers on its platform to 10,000 next year. It also projects a 4x revenue increase for these retailers who connect with over 200 brands delivered by a network of more than 70 logistics partners on Omnibiz’s platform.
Nikos Katsaounis, a partner at emerging markets VC Timon Capital, said his firm invested in Omnibiz because it believes the company is solving a much-needed problem. “The FMCG supply chain is fragmented, inefficient, and opaque. Omnibiz tackles all of these problems and addresses them with an efficient software layer that provides much-needed data on this otherwise obscure market and supply chain. Deepankar Rustagi is an excellent operating CEO.”
