At GIA, we’re excited to see Deepankar Rustagi-founded OmniRetail’s groundbreaking approach connecting digital finance with informal retail across Africa, a perfect showcase of global innovation with strategic execution.
What is the news?
- OmniRetail has secured $20 million in Series A funding co-led by Norwegian development finance institution Norfund and Lagos, Nigeria-based VC firm Timon Capital, with participation from Ventures Platform, Aruwa Capital, Goodwell Investments, and Flour Mills of Nigeria.
- This B2B e-commerce platform has achieved the rare milestone of becoming net profitable in 2024, just a year after reaching EBITDA positive status in 2023.
Why is it interesting?
- OmniRetail’s patient approach to embedded finance is truly distinctive. They built significant distribution scale first (serving 150,000+ retailers across Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast) before layering financial services.
- Their infrastructure-first model processes over ₦1.3 trillion (~$810 million) in transactions annually while maintaining near-zero defaults on credit products, proving that disciplined execution can succeed.
- The acquisition of Nigeria-based Traction Apps demonstrates their strategic approach to vertically integrating payment capabilities and gaining deeper retailer-level data insights.
Read more: OmniRetail shakes up Africa’s B2B e-commerce market with $20M Series A