TradeDepot operates a platform that digitizes and optimises the informal supply chain for micro-, small- and medium-sized retailers, aiming to unlock higher sales and margins. The company focuses on low-income retailers in Nigeria, the majority of whom are women, and its work targets supply-chain constraints and inefficiencies. British International Investment (BII) describes its support as part of a 'VC Scale-up' strategy to help the company grow and enhance economic opportunities for those retailers. BII first committed to TradeDepot in 2021 and made a further commitment in 2023; the company is recorded as domiciled in the USA. BII’s involvement has included environmental and social due diligence and an ESAP covering items such as developing an ESMS, labour and working conditions, road and fire safety, emergency response, and grievance management. No operating metrics or revenue/user figures are disclosed in the provided article. TradeDepot operates a B2B marketplace that links consumer-goods brands and wholesalers with thousands of small retailers, owning warehouses and a fleet of drivers to handle distribution. The company has embedded financial services into its ShopTopUp platform, offering a buy-now-pay-later credit line that delivers products to merchants while they repay in installments (monthly effective interest rate near 5%). TradeDepot grew from more than 40,000 merchants last year to over 100,000 today and reported a fivefold increase in GMV during that period; its BNPL model has driven a roughly 200% increase in transaction volumes for store owners. Historically the company used equity to finance early credit while building scoring models from retailer purchase and repayment data; it is now structuring debt to scale that lending. With the new funding TradeDepot plans to double down in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa and expand its footprint across Nigeria to capture more of its ~5 million SME target market. The company positions its supply-chain capabilities and embedded finance products as complementary tools to increase ordering power and retailer sales. TradeDepot operates a B2B e-commerce marketplace for consumer goods, aggregating more than 40,000 micro-retailers and enabling orders via Android apps, WhatsApp and a toll-free number with delivery by its vans and tricycles. The company offers inventory management, CRM and data-management software to help brands plan and monitor sales routes and gain trade insights; clients include Nestlé, Unilever and Arlo. TradeDepot says it activates a new store every three minutes, receives a retailer order every four seconds on average, and tripled its volume of trade in the past 12 months. More than 75% of the retailers on its platform are women, and the company runs mentorship and market-linkage programs aimed at female entrepreneurs. Financially, TradeDepot recently closed a $10 million pre-Series B equity round and plans to use the proceeds to expand its network and deepen partnerships with large brands. It intends to move into financial services, launching credit facilities and other products that leverage transaction data to assess real-time creditworthiness. TradeDepot has built a 360-degree platform that integrates manufacturers, distributors and retailers to streamline distribution of fast-moving consumer goods. The platform gives small retailers a real-time view of prices and discounts, lets them place orders that are routed to nearby depots for delivery, and provides manufacturers visibility to optimise deliveries and pricing. Its solution has been deployed across Nigeria in distributors' warehouses and the startup works with six consumer packaged-goods companies including Promasidor, Coca Cola and Population Sciences International. TradeDepot has also signed several distributors, notably MDS Logistics, whose 50 depots will be integrated onto the platform. The company says the funds will support expansion of its footprint in Nigeria and development in other countries. Founded in 2015, TradeDepot positions itself to reduce distribution waste and costs for millions of informal retailers in emerging markets.

Total raised

$127M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Debt Financing

Latest activity

Feb 2023