Sabi is a subsidiary of Rensource Energy, a renewable energy company that assists clients in reducing energy expenses by making use of energy sources. They also build micro-utilities that provide electricity to community structures.
This is coming after a year of closing a $2 million seed round which included Janngo Capital, Waarde Capital, CRE Ventures and Atlantica Ventures.
The platform, Sabi, acts as a middleman between merchants and agents to have goods to buy and sell. Tagged the largest B2B company platforming trade in Africa, they ensure they understand the informal economy better and help customers grow in ways they haven’t.
They not only cater to agents, but they also attend to distributors, wholesalers and retailers- which they call merchants. The company doesn’t own warehouses, goods or vehicles; they solely operate on an asset-light model.
Founders Ademola Adesina and Anu Adasolum formerly known as CEO and CFO at Rensource. They assumed those roles but in Sabi as they look into diverse ways SMEs can add value beyond energy provision.
Adasolum also adds that ‘they focus on policies, processes and monitoring of different type of users and how the third parties they use serve them.’ Sabi makes money by collecting a transaction fee when merchants perform sales in the marketplace. They also earn an amount when they provide financing for merchants.
They grow on an average of 40% monthly in Nigeria and they intend to reproduce the rapid growth in other African countries, beginning with South Africa and Kenya. Having just acquired a space in Kenya in October with few hires in South Africa, they will be going live next year. Adeshina also responds by saying another round of Series A might come in to fuel the company’s expansion into both countries.