Sabi
“Can an asset-light B2B commerce platform become Africa's financial and traceability rails for commodity exports?”
Founded2020
HQLagos, Nigeria
FoundersAnu Adedoyin Adasolum, Ademola Adesina
Total raised$38M+ (disclosed)
Latest roundSeries B, 2023
Valuation$300M (2023)
IndustryMarketplace / B2B Commerce
The story
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.
Product timeline
2020
Founded in Lagos as a software platform helping informal retailers digitize inventory during COVID-19.· pivot
2022
Expanded into FMCG B2B marketplace with embedded finance for last-mile merchants.· lending
2023
Raised $38M Series B at $300M valuation led by CommerzVentures.· funding
2024
Launched TRACE (Technology Rails for African Commodity Exchange) for traceable cross-border commodity exports.· pivot
2025
Laid off ~20% of staff and pivoted away from FMCG retail to focus on commodity exports via TRACE.· pivot
The stack
Payments / PSP
Banking / BaaS
Lending
Accounting gap: significant