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OmniRetail, a Nigerian Company Secures $20 Million in Series A Funding, Bringing Its Total Funding Since 2019 to $38 Million
Nigerian company, OmniRetail, has just secured $20 million in Series A funding. This is a big deal because it brings the total amount of money the company has raised since 2019 to $38 million. This new funding will help OmniRetail grow its business in Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. It will also allow the company to offer more financial services to small shop owners who use its platform.
The funding round was led by Norfund, a Norwegian finance group, and Timon Capital, a venture capital firm based in Lagos. Other investors like Ventures Platform, Aruwa Capital, Goodwell Investments, and Flour Mills of Nigeria also joined in. This is Norfund’s first time investing directly in an African startup, which shows how much they believe in OmniRetail.
OmniRetail is not just another online marketplace. It connects manufacturers, distributors, and thousands of small retail shops in West Africa through a digital platform. These small shops, often informal retailers, can use the app to order products, get loans, and pay digitally. By doing this, OmniRetail helps these shops run their businesses better and grow.
Deepankar Rustagi, one of the company’s founders, said the new money will help them expand faster and smarter. He explained that they want to grow in new places and add new products, but also improve how they work so they can make more profit. He said, “We raised this money to put the metal on the pedal and scale in more geographies and categories.”
What makes OmniRetail different is how well it has done compared to other startups in the same space. Many companies that tried to fix supply chain problems in Africa have struggled, but OmniRetail has been able to make a profit. In 2023, the company started making money before interest and taxes, and in 2024, it became fully profitable.
Norfund’s investor director, Cathrine Conradi, said embedded finance-offering financial services inside a non-financial app-is a powerful tool for helping small businesses grow in Africa. OmniRetail uses this idea to help small retailers get credit and manage payments easily.
Timon Capital, which has supported OmniRetail from the start, sees this funding as a turning point. They said the company is showing how it can grow profitably by improving distribution, payments, and credit services.
OmniRetail works with 145 manufacturers and over 5,800 distributors. It serves more than 150,000 small shops across 12 cities in Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. The company doesn’t own warehouses or trucks but partners with local logistics businesses that handle deliveries. This approach helps keep costs low and makes the business more flexible.
Last year, OmniRetail processed over $810 million in transactions. Its buy-now-pay-later product, Omnipay, gave out about $12 million in credit every month with very few customers missing payments. This careful approach to lending helped the company avoid problems that other startups faced.
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OmniRetail also recently bought a Nigerian payment company called Traction Apps. This will help them get better data on retailers and offer more financial products tailored to their needs. The company plans to use the new funding to improve its technology, grow its retailer base, and add new product categories like personal care and cold storage.
OmniRetail has secured $20 million in series A funding to keep growing and changing how small shops in West Africa buy and sell goods. With this money, the company is ready to make a bigger impact and help many more businesses succeed.
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