“We are excited to have closed this bridge round as Sabi continues to grow at an incredible pace. Our merchant users are taking advantage of every part of our platform, and the quality of the B2B partners we have brought onto the market is clear from the ever-increasing transaction volume,” said Anu Adasolum, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sabi. Pardon Makumbe, co-founder and managing partner of CRE Venture Capital, said his firm was proud to support Sabi’s continued growth across Nigeria and expansion into Kenya and South Africa. “Sabi’s online/offline approach to serving informal businesses, combined with the quality of its platform and service provider curation, has clearly taken root in Nigeria. The company is on track to be one of the fastest-growing African companies of 2021 and is showing no signs of slowing down,” he said. CRE Venture Capital led the startup’s US$6 million bridge round, which included investors such as Janngo Capital, Atlantica Ventures, and Waarde Capital. The round follows a seed round earlier this year, and will help the company’s quick expansion as it looks to expand into new markets, including South Africa. Sabi, which was founded last year after spinning out of energy company Rensource, is working to enhance Africa’s informal trading sector by connecting merchants and resellers to tailored business tools and services that help them reach new consumers, increase cash flow, and streamline logistics. Sabi’s category-agnostic platform is used by over 175,000 merchants to manage their businesses and conduct B2B transactions. On Sabi’s platform, merchants are transacting at a rate of more than US$100 million GMV per year, and the company recently launched in Kenya.
