When Depankar Rustagi last raised money for Omniretail in 2022, the excitement was high for African startups that tackle the supply chain and operational challenges in the fast -moving consumer goods (FMCG). At one point, these startups received more capital than all sectorsExcept fintech.
However, the enthusiasm and importance of industry have recently blurred the importance of venture capital, because various business models were struggling under increasing pressure.
But for Rustagi, Omniretail is not just a B2B -commerce platform; It is an ambitious attempt to reform informal retail in Nigeria and West Africa with the help of technology and embedded financing in a scalable, profitable way. Now that vision has received further approval with a series A -sharing financing round of $ 20 million. This capital will help Omniretail to expand its presence in Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast, while deepening his focus on embedded financial products.
De Ronde was partly led by the Norwegian development financing institution Norfund and the VC company Timon Capital, which is located in Lagos, with follow-up participation of Ventures platform, Aruwa Capital, Goodwell Investments (Via Alitheia Capital) and Flour Molks of Nigeria.
This marks the first direct investment investment of Norfund in an African startup, and according to Rustagi, Omniretail places on the way to dominating in a segment where others have had difficulty growing profitable. Since its foundation in 2019, Omniretail has collected $ 38 million in equity and debts.
The Omniretail model digitizes order management for 145 manufacturers, more than 5,800 distributors and services more than 150,000 informal retailers in 12 cities in Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Retailers use the app to order inventory, gain access to working capital and to make digital payments. In the background, a logistics network of third parties of more than 1,100 vehicles and distributed storage capacity is managed by 85 local logistics partners.
The strategy for asset light from Omniretail has been important to achieve profitability. In 2023, the B2B e-commerce platform EBITDA positive became based on Lagos. In 2024 it became net profitable. A similar story unfolds in Egypt, where another B2B-E-commerce platform, Cartona, owes its push in the direction of profitability to the model.
Both CEOs have noted that the informal market of Africa is huge and consists of suppliers and distributors who do not have to be displaced or needed, but are more efficient with the technical tools provided by their platforms.
“The profitability journey was a solution of our efficiency in the use of the assets we have collected in the network, and this has proven that the model that we put together as a ‘network of networks’ is profitable and very scalable, Rustagi said.” That is the reason that we end the capital to finally put the capital on the pedal and to place it in more geographical geographical geographical and in more classifications. We are not only expanding to grow, but to optimize. “
Better occupation in storage, smarter logistics routes and deeper penetration of category will all improve the margins, he added.
Rustagi, in a conversation with Techcrunch, next to Omiretail’s main investment, Archit BagariaIt further explained that the progress of the company is also in a deep understanding of the FMCG Retail Ecosystem, where the entire leadership team has decades of experience.
According to them, it offers a unique advantage to understand how the value chain works, who is the most important players and where the gaps exist in visibility.
“For years, goods have been moved from point A to point B, but the lack of transparency has hindered financial inclusion and caused inefficiencies in the process,” Bagaria said. “By building an ecosystem that streamlines this entire landscape, we can solve these problems.”
As soon as a startup reaches critical mass, Bagaria adds, it becomes easier to lay extra services, such as payments and buy-now-pay-store (BNPL), on top of the existing infrastructure. “Our approach has been different from others, and we believe that we have found success with this model,” Bagaria added.
Unlike other startups that too early to offer credit products or to increase the launch, Omniretail waited until it had a considerable distribution scale and data. Thanks to this strategy, Omniretail processed more than ₦ 1.3 trillion (~ $ 810 million) in transactions last year, with Omnipay, his BNPL product, according to the company ₦ 19 billion monthly (~ $ 12 million) in stock credit, with almost zero, according to the company.
Acquiring Nigeria-based Merchant Solution Platform Traction Apps In 2024, the strategy of Omniretail further strengthened. Traction offers full-stack payment options, including POS terminals, PSSP and super agent licenses and access to sales data at retailer level.
For Omniretail, the purchase enables a full financial profile of each retailer, giving it even more control over the supply chain and the possibility to offer tailor -made financial solutions.
“Every transaction in the FMCG chain has two sides: the relocation of goods and the movement of funds,” said Rustagi. “Today we are able to collect maximum benefits of each transaction in the value chain. Our plan is to dive deep into the value chain and maximize the margins. International players have done well in their markets, and we are bringing that model to Nigeria today.”
Although the GMV figures no longer make public, so that the statistics are shifted that has long been an important performance -indicator in the sector, it reports an increase of 35% in the net merchandise volume (NMV) and a 40% income in the past year, while they have profitability, despite its expansion.
Some of our next movements are laser -oriented: a fixed debt increase for inventory financing, strategic acquisitions and a ruthless profitable growth. “
With $ 20 million in fresh capital, Omniretail is planning to continue to grow and expand its shopping base to new product categories such as personal care, home care and cold storage.
The capital will also upgrade its infrastructure, improve its credit underwriting tools and strengthen partnerships with domestic debt providers. As such, some of the following movements include a debt increase for stock financing and strategic acquisitions, according to Bagaria.
For Norfund, Omniretail represents more than just a fintech or commerce bet; It is infrastructure.
“Embedded Finance is one of the most transforming tools for growth of small companies in Africa,” said Cathrine Conradi, director of the Norfund. “The Omniretail model brings capital to areas where traditional systems have not been reached.”
In the meantime, Timon Capital, who supported Omniretail from his seed phase, sees this as a breakout moment for the company.
“Omniretail now has reached a bending point in distribution, payments and credit, which shows how much profitable growth they can generate with their growing footprint,” the company said.
