TradeDepot has raised $110 million in funding to expand its buy-now-pay-later service across Africa
TradeDepot, a Nigerian company, has raised $110 million in funding to expand its buy-now-pay-later service across Africa
In a Series B round of equity and debt financing, TradeDepot, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce and embedded finance platform, raised $110 million. The funds will be used to expand the company's buy-now-pay-later service across the continent.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, was in charge of coordinating the funding round. Additionally, existing investors Novastar, Sahel Capital, CDC Group, Endeavor Catalyst, Partech and MSA Capital were included in the round.
Arcadia Funds, a lender that specializes in peer-to-peer and marketplace lending, as well as insurance-linked products, was in charge of arranging the debt financing for the company.
As stated by the company, the additional funding will allow it to increase the number of merchants who can benefit from its services, increasing consumer goods brand penetration and fostering prosperity in one of Africa's most important industries.
It was approximately eighteen months ago that Partech Africa and the International Finance Corporation led a $10 million funding round, which was led by Partech Africa and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
As a result of the transaction, Wale Ayeni, the International Finance Corporation's head of Africa Venture Capital Investment, and Brian Odhiambo, the West Africa director of Novastar Ventures, will join the TradeDepot board of directors.
Developing relationships between businesses and international consumer brands
Awaritefe, Michael Ukpong, Onyekachi Izukanne, and Ruke Awaritefe founded TradeDepot in 2016. TradeDepot is a business-to-business platform that links small businesses, kiosks, and retailers with global consumer brand wholesalers of food, beverages, and personal care products in a secure online environment.
The ShopTopUp platform, developed by the company, offers a diverse selection of consumer goods to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in its network. The distribution is handled by the corporation's own warehouses and fleet of delivery trucks and trailers.
After having more than 40,000 merchants last year, according to CEO Onyekachi Izukanne, the company is currently home to more than 100,000 merchants.
As stated by the company, TradeDepot currently has operations in 12 cities throughout Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. It connects retailers and suppliers by leveraging its data, technology, and robust logistics operations to create a more seamless shopping experience.
As an added benefit, the company provides credit lines that allow retailers to acquire inventory and pay in installments as they sell it to their own customers, resulting in increased sales, higher margins, and other value-added services for all parties.
"Businesses are able to double or triple their normal sales simply as a result of having access to this information. We believe that embedded financial services will play a critical role in this narrative: on the one hand, the supply chain, and on the other, everything related to financial services that enables these businesses to operate "Onyekachi Izukanne is the company's CEO.
One of TradeDepot's primary goals is to integrate technology into the supply chain while also gradually bringing on board retailers. Customers who are newly onboarded can choose from a wide variety of products offered by the company. There are financial services and digital wallets included in these products, as well as credit and buy-now-pay-later options, among others.
The company believes that with the new funding round, it will be able to accelerate the distribution of this service to more stores, increasing brand penetration in consumer goods and fostering prosperity in one of the most important industries on the continent.
The company claims to have established a network of leading consumer goods brands, as well as small and medium-sized businesses, across the continent of Africa (SMBs). In response to its financing model and industry-leading logistics technologies, the company claims that its retail store owners have seen a 200 percent increase in transaction volumes over the past year.
"Approximately 80 percent of all jobs in the region are held by people working in the informal sector, which is a significant and critical component of the continent's economy. In partnership with TradeDepot, we are looking forward to leveraging technology to assist small businesses across the continent, particularly the numerous retailers led by women, in gaining access to the resources they require to grow and scale their operations "International Finance Corporation Managing Director Makhtar Diop expressed his views on the matter.
