A Nigerian start-up, Sabi, ramped up the sum it is setting sights on to raise from investors come September by more than twice to $125 million after conveniently attaining its financial targets, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing an interview with one of its co-founders.

The B2B marketplace is backed by Norrsken22, a new $200 million Swedish tech growth fund led by a coterie of foreign investors, and focuses on bringing informal traders and suppliers in contact with each other.

According to CEO Ademola Adesina, Sabi plans to establish a finance vehicle that will enable clients access capital to expand. Sabi has footprints in Kenya and intends to break into the South African market.

Africa, especially Nigeria, is increasingly drawing hordes of venture capitalists from outside the country, including Softbank Group Corp and Swedish unicorns, who are keen on providing funding to promising and scalable start-ups in exchange for a slice of equity.

Ekovention, a venture capital event backed by San Francisco-based Tuyo Ventures, last week launched call for pitches from Nigerian start-ups in search of at least $500,000 for expansion in sectors as varied as smart city, education agriculture, finance and healthcare. The event will begin on June 22.

In the same vein, the Nigerian Exchange is designing a new listing segment to be christened “technology board” in the mould of US tech-heavy NASDAQ in the scramble for the market.

Sabi’s Series B funding is the latest round after it sourced $6 million in the first stage.

“We are asset light, we do not own vehicles or warehouses. We are a platform for owners of all of those. We are a platform for all of those middlemen,” Mr Adesina was quoted as saying.

Established in 2020, the firm reported transactions in the sum of $100 million in the first year of operation and now operates at an annualised rate of $350 million.

Mr Adesina said his firm’s capacity for expansion hinges on the fact that it operates a platform that relies on few physical assets.

Sabi started off concentrating on FMCGs but has now enlarged the spectrum to incorporate agricultural products, chemicals as well electronics.

It has unveiled the ambition to tap sub-Saharan Africa’s informal trade market valued by it at $800 billion.

It has over 10,000 agents and 150,000 merchants across Africa, according to its company website.

PT