African B2B E-commerce Market Disruption: OmniRetail Secures $20M Series A Funding

The African B2B e-commerce market is experiencing a significant transformation as Lagos-based OmniRetail secures a landmark $20 million Series A funding round, establishing itself as a dominant player in a sector where many competitors have struggled to achieve profitability. This strategic investment comes at a pivotal moment for the platform, which has defied industry trends by reaching net profitability in 2024 while revolutionizing how goods move through Africa’s complex retail ecosystem.

Founded by Deepankar Rustagi in 2019, OmniRetail has developed a distinctive approach to digitizing the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain across West Africa. Unlike many other players in the African B2B e-commerce market, OmniRetail employs an asset-light model that enhances rather than replaces existing distribution networks—a strategy that has proven instrumental to its financial success while connecting 145 manufacturers with over 150,000 informal retailers.

Funding Details: $20M Investment Co-Led by Norfund and Timon Capital

The $20 million Series A equity funding round represents a substantial vote of confidence in OmniRetail’s approach to the African B2B e-commerce market. This latest investment brings the company’s total funding to $38 million in equity and debt since its inception in 2019, providing significant resources for accelerating growth across West Africa.

The funding round was co-led by Norwegian development finance institution Norfund and Lagos-based venture capital firm Timon Capital, with follow-on participation from several existing investors:

• Ventures Platform
• Aruwa Capital
• Goodwell Investments (via Alitheia Capital)
• Flour Mills of Nigeria

Notably, this marks Norfund’s first direct equity investment in an African startup, signaling growing international confidence in the potential of the African B2B e-commerce market despite recent challenges that have seen many players struggle to achieve sustainable business models.

For Timon Capital, which has backed OmniRetail since its seed stage, this investment represents a validation of their early confidence in the company’s approach to the African B2B e-commerce market. The firm noted that “OmniRetail has now hit an inflection point in distribution, payments, and credit, showing just how much profitable growth they can generate with their expanding footprint across West Africa.”

OmniRetail’s Innovative Business Model in the African B2B Market

At the core of OmniRetail’s success in the African B2B e-commerce market is its distinctive “network of networks” approach. Rather than building parallel infrastructure that competes with existing players, OmniRetail has created a platform that digitizes and enhances the operations of established supply chain participants, creating value throughout the ecosystem.

The platform connects manufacturers, distributors, and retailers through a comprehensive digital ecosystem that has transformed how business is conducted in the African B2B e-commerce market. This ecosystem includes:

• Digital Order Management: Streamlining the purchasing process between all stakeholders
• Payment Solutions: Facilitating secure digital transactions across the supply chain
• Working Capital Access: Providing critical inventory financing for retailers
• Logistics Network: Coordinating a third-party fleet of over 1,100 vehicles
• Distributed Warehousing: Partnering with 85 local logistics providers to manage storage

CEO Deepankar Rustagi emphasizes that OmniRetail isn’t trying to disrupt traditional supply chains but rather enhance them: “The profitability journey was an outcome of our efficiency on utilizing the assets that we aggregated in the network, and this has proven that the model that we put together as a ‘network of networks’ is profitable and is highly scalable across the African B2B e-commerce market.”

Embedded Finance: Driving Growth and Profitability

Beyond simply connecting supply chain participants, OmniRetail has strategically layered embedded finance solutions throughout its ecosystem. This approach has been carefully timed and executed, contributing significantly to both growth and profitability within the African B2B e-commerce market, where access to capital remains a critical challenge.

The company’s flagship financial product, Omnipay, provides buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) inventory credit to retailers, enabling them to stock products without the burden of immediate payment. This service addresses one of the most significant pain points for informal retailers across the African B2B e-commerce market: access to working capital for inventory purchases.

Unlike some competitors who rushed into offering credit products prematurely, OmniRetail waited until it had achieved significant distribution scale and accumulated robust data on retailer behavior within the African B2B e-commerce market. This patience has allowed for more precise risk assessment and better-tailored financial solutions with sustainable economics.

“Every transaction in the FMCG value chain has two sides: the movement of goods and the movement of funds,” explains Rustagi. “Today, we are in a position to aggregate maximum benefits from every transaction in the value chain. Our plan is to dive deep into the value chain and maximize margins across the African B2B e-commerce market.”

The acquisition of Nigeria-based merchant solution platform Traction Apps further strengthened OmniRetail’s financial capabilities by providing full-stack payment infrastructure, including POS terminals, PSSP and Super Agent licenses, and access to detailed retailer-level sales data—creating a more comprehensive view of transaction flows throughout the retail ecosystem.

Achieving Profitability in Africa’s B2B E-commerce Sector

In an African B2B e-commerce market where many startups have struggled with profitability, OmniRetail stands out for its exceptional financial performance. The company achieved EBITDA positivity in 2023 and became net profitable in 2024—a remarkable achievement that has caught the attention of investors looking for sustainable business models in the sector.

This profitability trajectory comes at a time when enthusiasm for B2B e-commerce in Africa has waned following an initial surge of investment. While the sector once received more venture capital than all other sectors except fintech, recent years have seen many business models in the African B2B e-commerce market struggle under mounting pressure to demonstrate viable paths to profitability.

Archit Bagaria, OmniRetail’s head of investment, attributes the company’s success to a deep understanding of the FMCG retail ecosystem within the African B2B e-commerce market: “For years, goods have been moving from point A to point B, but the lack of transparency has hindered financial inclusion and caused inefficiencies in the process. By building an ecosystem that streamlines this entire landscape, we can solve these fundamental problems.”

The company has shifted away from publicly disclosing Gross Merchandise Value (GMV)—once a standard metric in the industry—focusing instead on sustainable growth metrics like Net Merchandise Volume (NMV) and revenue growth. This shift reflects a broader trend in the African B2B e-commerce market toward prioritizing sustainable business models over pure transaction volume growth.

African B2B E-commerce Market: Current Landscape

The African B2B e-commerce market presents unique challenges and opportunities that have shaped OmniRetail’s approach. Understanding this context is crucial to appreciating the significance of the company’s achievements and strategy within the broader ecosystem.

Africa’s informal retail sector, which dominates the African B2B e-commerce market, is characterized by fragmentation, limited access to finance, operational inefficiencies, and supply chain opacity. These challenges create significant friction in the movement of goods from manufacturers to end consumers, resulting in higher costs, stockouts, and lost revenue opportunities throughout the value chain.

Despite these challenges, the African B2B e-commerce market offers tremendous growth potential. The continent’s retail sector is valued at hundreds of billions of dollars annually, with the vast majority flowing through informal channels. By digitizing even a small portion of these transactions, companies like OmniRetail can capture significant value while solving critical pain points for all participants.

This approach is proving successful elsewhere on the continent, notably in Egypt with B2B e-commerce platform Cartona. Both companies have recognized that Africa’s informal market doesn’t need to be displaced but rather enhanced through appropriate technology and financial services tailored to the unique dynamics of the African B2B e-commerce market.

Rustagi and his team’s deep experience in the FMCG sector gives them a unique understanding of how the value chain works, who the key players are, and where technology can add the most value—a crucial advantage in navigating the complex African B2B e-commerce market landscape successfully.

Strategic Expansion Plans Across West Africa

With the new capital injection, OmniRetail has outlined ambitious plans to expand its footprint across the African B2B e-commerce market, with a particular focus on strengthening its presence in Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. This expansion will target both geographic reach and product diversity to create a more comprehensive marketplace solution.

The company plans to leverage its proven model to enter new cities and deepen penetration in existing markets across the African B2B e-commerce market. Beyond geographic expansion, OmniRetail is broadening its product categories beyond traditional FMCG items to include:

• Personal care products with higher margins
• Home care items with consistent demand patterns
• Cold storage solutions for perishable goods, addressing a critical infrastructure gap

A significant portion of the funding will be allocated to enhancing the technological infrastructure that powers OmniRetail’s platform. Specifically, the company will invest in upgrading its credit underwriting tools to support the continued growth of its embedded finance offerings across the African B2B e-commerce market.

Bagaria highlighted that OmniRetail’s next moves in the African B2B e-commerce market include “a solid debt raise for inventory finance, strategic acquisitions, and a relentless profitable growth” strategy. These initiatives aim to consolidate the company’s position as a leader in the increasingly competitive sector while maintaining the financial discipline that has set it apart from many competitors.

Future Outlook and Industry Impact

As OmniRetail continues to advance in the African B2B e-commerce market, several key developments are likely to shape its trajectory. The company has positioned itself at the intersection of commerce, logistics, and financial services—a powerful combination that addresses the most critical pain points in Africa’s retail supply chain.

Looking ahead, we can expect OmniRetail to focus on several strategic priorities within the African B2B e-commerce market:

• Deeper Data Integration: Enhanced analytics to provide even more targeted financial products based on transaction history
• Manufacturer Partnerships: Closer collaboration with FMCG brands seeking market insights and distribution optimization
• Advanced Supply Chain Visibility: Improved tracking and forecasting capabilities to reduce stockouts and waste
• Expanded Financial Products: New credit and payment solutions for different supply chain participants beyond retailers
• Potential Regional Expansion: Possible entry into other West African markets beyond the current three-country operation

For the broader African B2B e-commerce market, OmniRetail’s success provides a valuable case study in sustainable growth. Their “network of networks” approach demonstrates that working with existing supply chain participants, rather than attempting to replace them, can be both more capital-efficient and more effective in the African context where relationships and trust remain essential to business operations.

As Norfund’s Cathrine Conradi noted, what OmniRetail is building represents more than just a commercial opportunity within the African B2B e-commerce market—it’s critical infrastructure for economic development. By bringing digital tools and financial services to previously underserved retailers, OmniRetail is helping to formalize informal commerce and create more resilient supply chains across West Africa’s retail landscape.

With its profitable model, experienced leadership team, and strategic investor support, OmniRetail appears well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory as a dominant player in the African B2B e-commerce market. As traditional retail increasingly digitizes across the continent, the company’s early mover advantage and proven approach could translate into lasting market leadership in one of the world’s most promising retail technology frontiers.