Sabi – a Nigerian startup focused on improving Africa’s informal economy, has just closed a seed-funding round. Investors that participated in the seed round include: JRE Ventures, Janngo Capital, Atlantica Ventures, and Waarde Capital.
Dealing in various businesses such as agriculture, fast-moving commercial goods, electronics, and financial services, Sabi supports merchants and service providers across Nigeria by providing adequate business tools and services to connect them to their customers, improve cash flow and streamline logistics. So far, the startup has been able to hit this achievement through the 10,000 agents it has across Nigeria. This is quite impressive, considering that the company had just been started by Anu Adasolum and Ademola Adesina, roughly a year ago to make informal trading easy.
Presently, Sabi helps traders offer their goods and services to over 150,000 merchants, taking advantage of its 10,000 agents across Nigeria. Record shows that it has succeeded, as sales worth over $1.2 billion has been sealed via MyShop, its ERP tool. By its projection, sales should move higher to about $80 million worth before the end of 2021, especially using its B2B marketplace channel –MerchBuy.
Anu Adasolum said the company is achieving its goals at a quick and steady rate, “The convenience, trust and quality of our platform have been validated by our merchants and we look forward to onboarding more businesses as we continue to grow” according to the Co-Founder.
Managing partner of Janngo Capital, Fatoumata Ba, commended Sabi for its steadfastness and uniqueness towards the African informal sector. Its aot understanding of the sector has helped the startup thrive so far in its endeavours.
With the funds raised, the startup plans to expand its network across Nigeria. It seeks to broaden its reach by bringing in more merchants and service providers. Just recently, the company kicked off the expansion of its financial service offerings by including savings accounts and other complementary risk-mitigating financial products.
