Nigeria and United States based firm “TradeDeport”whose focus is on Nigeria retail supply chain have been provided with finance of $110m by International Finance Corporation.

International Finance Corporation is a subsidiary of World Bank Group. IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries.

A report on Tuesday stated that the firm, TradeDepot had secured $110m in equity and debt financing to extend its merchant-based Buy Now Pay Later offering to more Nigerian and African businesses.

TradeDepot operates a Business-to-Business marketplace that connects small shops, kiosks and retailers with wholesalers of global consumer brands that have access to food, beverages and personal care products.

The firm runs its own warehouses and fleets of drivers to handle distribution.

The firm reportedly had 40,000 merchants on its platform but now services more than 100,000 merchants.

The Chief Executive Officer, TradeDepot, Onyekachi Izukanne, was quoted as disclosing that the firm’s gross merchandise value had grown by five times between 2020 and 2021.

The Series B funding round comes 18 months after the firm raised $10m co-led by Partech Africa and the IFC.

The current round was led by IFC with Novastar, Sahel Capital, CDC Group, Endeavor Catalyst, existing investors Partech and MSA Capital participating.

– Punch