Sabi, a Lagos-based B2B e-commerce startup, has raised $38 million in Series B funding at a valuation of $300 million.
Per Crunchbase, the e-commerce startup has raised over $66 million in funding since it started in 2020.
It earlier raised $20 million in 2022, a funding round led by Norrsken. Its latest round was led by Frankfurt-based investor CommerzVentures, Stockholm-based growth-stage investor Norrsken22, US-based growth-stage funds Fluent Ventures and Proof VC and pan-African early-stage investors CRE Venture Capital and Janngo Capital.
Sabi will use the funds to fuel its expansion plans into other markets, including Tanzania and Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and francophone West Africa, according to people familiar with the situation.
Backstory: B2B e-commerce startups were flush with funds for most of 2021 and early 2022. Most of the funds were used to pursue discount and incentive-driven growth. However, with the global economic downturn, this method has failed for most startups.
Sabi was an exception to this trend. Despite being in business for two and a half years, the company is doing extremely well, producing astounding growth rates.
Winning with numbers: Sabi executives shared with Techcrunch that the startup had onboarded over 175,000 merchants on its network. For context, Wasoko, a leading B2B e-commerce startup, noted that it had 200,000 active merchants.
The company says its growth strategy sets it apart from other companies in the industry and has helped it continue on a sustainable path despite difficult market conditions.
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