Sabi, a B2B marketplace for Africa’s informal economy, announced today that its platform now has over 150,000 small business users. Sabi is helping to optimize Africa’s informal trade sector by connecting merchants and resellers to curated business tools and services that help them reach new customers, improve cash flow, and streamline logistics.
Sabi was founded and is run by Rensource, and it has been scaling quietly since mid-2020. Despite only being in Nigeria for a year, Sabi merchants have generated over $1.2 billion in sales through MyShop, the company’s ERP tool, and are on track to transact over $80 million annually through MerchBuy, its B2B marketplace, in 2021. Sabi works with over 10,000 agents in Nigeria who interact with new merchants and service providers in a variety of industries, including agriculture, fast moving consumer goods, electronics, and financial services.
Sabi is proudly led by a woman, according to co-founder and CEO Anu Adasolum, a former Rensource COO and Jumia’s Head of JForce (Offline Sales). Sabi’s co-founder is Ademola Adesina. CREVentures, Janngo Capital, Atlantica Ventures, and Waarde Capital are among the notable investors in the company, which recently closed a seed round.
Anu Adasolum, CEO of Sabi, commented, “Sabi is reaching an underserved yet vibrant market segment and is scaling quickly. 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.”
Fatoumata Ba, Managing partner at Janngo Capital, commented, “we invested in Sabi because the team has a deep understanding of the unique network dynamics of Africa’s informal sector and, more importantly, how to serve the sector at scale without losing the advantage of its decentralized nature. Sabi has taken off in Nigeria and we look forward to supporting the company as it continues to platform informal merchants and agents to help them accelerate their business growth.
Ademola Adesina, co-founder of Sabi, added, “Sabi is alleviating critical bottlenecks that prevent informal businesses from growing. We’re building abridge between the last frontier of underserved small businesses and a range of innovative services and products that weren’t available until recently.”
Sabi’s network is expanding across Nigeria as the platform adds new merchants and service providers. The company has recently formed partnerships that will enable it to expand its financial services offerings to include savings accounts and other risk-reducing financial products.