“Can an asset-light B2B commerce platform become Africa's financial and traceability rails for commodity exports?”
Sabi launched in 2020 as a B2B e-commerce platform digitizing Nigeria's informal retail and FMCG distribution, layering embedded finance (inventory finance, digital wallets, B2B BNPL) on top of its merchant network. After raising a $38M Series B at $300M valuation in 2023, the company pivoted sharply in 2024-2025 toward TRACE, an operating system for traceable, ESG-compliant African commodity exports, and laid off ~20% of staff to fund the move. Embedded finance remains a pillar but is now positioned as export credit and trade finance rather than last-mile retailer lending.
Sabi discloses Partner financial institutions (unnamed) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Sabi does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Partner financial institutions (unnamed).
Sabi processes payments through Katsu (self-operated) and SabiPay (self-operated).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 3 layers in Sabi's stack: Payments / PSP (Katsu (self-operated) and SabiPay (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (Partner financial institutions (unnamed)); Lending (Inventory finance, Export credit and B2B Buy Now Pay Later).
Sabi was founded by Anu Adedoyin Adasolum and Ademola Adesina and is founded in 2020, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.
Sabi has raised $38M+ (disclosed) in total (latest round: Series B, 2023; valuation: $300M (2023)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Sabi and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.