Maad, a B2B e-commerce platform for informal retailers in Senegal, has secured a $3.2 million seed funding round to bolster its growth and explore fresh opportunities in the Francophone region. 

Ventures Platform led the seed round, which included Alumni Ventures, Oui Capital, Launch Africa, Voltron Capital, Reflect Ventures, and Seedstars International Ventures. The company also raised $900,000 in debt financing from French DFI Proparco and local banks.

B2B E-Commerce Startup, Maad

Maad’s end-to-end distribution platform enables informal retailers (mom-and-pop stores) to directly source fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) from partner suppliers. This tackles key issues they face, including stockouts and the high cost of inventory brought by multiple levels of dealers.

Sidy Niang (CEO) and Jessica Long (COO) launched the platform in 2020, initially as a data collection provider, before pivoting to building software to help companies manage their own internal distribution. How FMCG suppliers utilized Maad’s software to deal with distribution challenges inspired the launch of the B2B e-commerce business in September 2021.

“Watching our clients use our software for their own distribution inspired us. The software was providing a lot of value and we could imagine much more value if we put all the products that small shops buy on the same platform,” Niang told TechCrunch.

Customers make orders through the startup’s call center, field agents, or the app, which accounts for the bulk (75%) of the orders. The startup then fulfills the orders from its warehouses using its in-house delivery service to reduce costs and ensure the consistency of its services.

“We decided to bring all of logistics…the reason that we do that is just it’s a low margin business. We think this is the way to provide good service and meet clients’ reliability needs. I don’t think we could offer a similar service if we relied on a third-party provider,” said Long.

$3.2 Debt-Equity Seed Funding Round

The startup currently operates in Senegal, where it has grown to serve 6,500 active retailers through its network of 80 suppliers. It has ongoing partnerships with over 80 suppliers and a catalog of over 1,000 household brand stock-keeping units (SKUs), reaching a monthly GMV of $3 million. 

Maad says working closely with suppliers has enabled it to have exclusive access to particular products and to price items competitively, which draws the informal retailers. 

These retailers are an important channel through which manufacturers can sell products. Due to their proximity to customers, they deliver about 80% of household retail in sub-Saharan Africa.

Startups like Maad collect data points on products and retailers to draw insights that help suppliers make better business decisions while solving inventory sourcing and financing challenges for informal retailers.

The startup plans to expand its coverage to include remote places within the country and is keen on entering a new market within Francophone regions by the end of the year. It also plans to introduce a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service to enable shop owners to access inventory on credit.

Image Credit: Maad