African B2B e-commerce platform OmniRetail has raised $20 million in Series A equity funding, a major step in its plan to scale operations across Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, and deepen its focus on embedded financial products for informal retailers.
The round was co-led by Norwegian development finance institution Norfund and Lagos-based Timon Capital, with participation from Ventures Platform, Aruwa Capital, Goodwell Investments (via Alitheia Capital), and Flour Mills of Nigeria.
This marks Norfund’s first direct equity investment in an African startup. “Embedded finance is one of the most transformative tools for small business growth in Africa,” said Norfund’s Investor Director Cathrine Conradi. “OmniRetail’s model brings capital to areas where traditional systems haven’t reached.”
Founded in 2019, OmniRetail has now raised $38 million in equity and debt to date. The company’s digital platform connects 145 manufacturers, 5,800+ distributors, and over 150,000 informal retailers across 12 cities, streamlining inventory ordering, payments, and credit access. In 2024, the company achieved full net profitability, after becoming EBITDA positive in 2023.
CEO Gautam Rustagi attributes this success to an “asset-light, network-of-networks” model, which leverages a third-party logistics fleet of 1,100+ vehicles and 85 local logistics partners. “We built this model to be scalable and profitable. Now we’re putting the metal on the pedal to expand in more geographies and product categories,” he said.
OmniRetail’s embedded finance offerings, particularly Omnipay’s buy-now-pay-later product, have gained traction. In 2024, the platform disbursed ₦19 billion (~$12 million) monthly in inventory credit with near-zero defaults, enabled by vast data from its supply chain ecosystem. In total, it processed ₦1.3 trillion (~$810 million) in transactions last year.
The recent acquisition of Nigeria-based Traction Apps, a full-stack payments platform with POS and PSSP licenses, gives OmniRetail deeper insight into retailer-level sales data and enhances its credit underwriting capabilities.
With the new capital, the company plans to expand into new categories such as personal care, home care, and cold chain logistics, improve infrastructure, and raise debt for inventory financing.
Timon Capital, which backed OmniRetail from the seed stage, called this “a breakout moment,” as the startup proves its ability to combine distribution, payments, and credit into a profitable, scalable engine.
“Unlike others who jumped into credit too early, we waited to build distribution scale first,” Rustagi added. “Now we’re not just growing — we’re optimizing.”
