Lagos-based B2B e-commerce platform, Omnibiz eyes West African expansion after a $3m seed raise

Omnibiz, a Lagos-primarily based B2B e-commerce platform, has raised a seed round of $3 million to lengthen into recent markets.

The funding round was led by V&R Africa, Timon Capital and Tangerine Insurance coverage. The round additionally included Lofty Inc., Musha Ventures, Sunu Capital, Delivery Africa, Rising Tide Africa, and Seedstar. The corporate has now taken a whole funding of $4 million. 

The startup plans to exercise the fund to originate recent know-how, lengthen its courses to consist of alcoholic drinks and OTC pharmaceutical products, lengthen into recent markets and originate extra strategic partnerships.

Solve an mumble and originate an organization round your solution

Omnibiz was based in 2019 by Deepankar Rustagi, the Indian founder of VConnect, a market and search engine for agencies and professionals that shut down in 2017.

After VConnect shutdown, Rustagi began consulting for FMCG producers. He realized there was friction within the availability chain that would be solved digitally. Impressed by the budding tech ecosystem and the abundance of digital improvements going down in varied sectors, he launched Omnibiz to grab out the friction.

Omnibiz was launched into the Nigerian informal market as a B2B e-commerce platform that connects instant-transferring person items (FMCGs) producers to outlets by digitizing the overall transferring parts of the availability chain. 

What this means is that outlets don’t agree with to head to the manufacturing company to whine or grab stock, Omnibiz enables them to mumble orders at their convenience and agree with items delivered to their doorstep at no value. Outlets can join and inform from the Omnibiz cell app, WhatsApp channel or through a phone name. 

On Omnibiz, when a retailer orders a explicit lawful, a put a question to is distributed to listed accomplice distributors who store items on behalf of producers and are historically known to aid out with warehousing and transportation. 

The distributors then lift the inform. In conditions the attach distributors are handiest offering warehousing services to the manufacturer, they’ll trek on the signal to partnered logistics suppliers who will scrutinize to the fulfilment within 24hours.

“We work with producers to present visibility. Then grab items from them and withhold them in accomplice hubs that act as warehouses and distributors. Then, exercise the services of drivers that work with third-celebration logistics drivers who receives a rate on every provide made,” Rustagi urged TechCrunch.

What’s Omnibiz’s prove traction and future projection?

Omnibiz helps outlets attach working capital while always connecting them with bigger than 20 producers, including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Kellogg’s, Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark.

The B2B e-commerce retail company is at prove operating in four Nigerian cities across Nigeria — Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna. As per TechCrunch, the corporate will add two extra cities, Ibadan and Kano, ahead of the tip of August. Then lengthen into an fully recent market across West African cities — Abidjan, Takoradi, Kumasi and Accra.

The startup is working in a very aggressive African e-commerce sector. Many B2B and B2C e-commerce solutions like Kenya’s Sokowatch and Twiga, Nigeria’s TradeDepot and Egypt’s MaxAB agree with constructed some muscle to eradicate market management.

“We reflect Omnibiz frequently is the goal model for B2B retail in Africa and can scale effectively into other emerging markets,” Raj Kulasingam and Vishal Agarwal of V&R Africa, mentioned in a observation. “We are excited and cosy to be supporting Omnibiz in all methods past upright offering capital.”

In the approaching months, Omnibiz plans to lengthen each its product offering, manufacturer courses, and market presence across well-known West African cities. Nonetheless most importantly, brings on medium-scale producers who procure it complicated to procure the final-mile provide to reach potentialities and aid them scale.

“We are seeking to scale them so that they’ll reach an major assortment of outlets. That’s something we’re rolling out so we’ll have the opportunity to onboard an increasing type of producers,” Rustagi concluded.