Silverbacks Holdings, an African-focused private investment firm, has sold a portion of its stake in OmniRetail, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup, securing a 5x return on its initial investment. This comes one month after securing a 29x return from its Lemfi exit.
The exit follows OmniRetail’s recent $20 million Series A raise, which saw participation from 64-year-old manufacturing titan, Flour Mills of Nigeria, alongside other backers. This partial exit marks Silverbacks’ ninth profitable exit.
Founded in 2019, OmniRetail links 150,000 retailers with 5,800 distributors and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers through its e-commerce platform. Twice dubbed Africa’s fastest-growing business, it saw revenue surge 71,818% from $280,000 in 2020 to over $120 million in 2023, processed more than ₦1.3 trillion ($810 million) in deals in 2024, and hit profitability.
“Silverbacks has been a truly resourceful early investor and a consistent contributor to the growth of OmniRetail’s network,” Deepankar Rustagi, OmniRetail’s CEO, said in a statement. “I’m excited to see them continue the journey with us as I also have the pleasure to support their sports venture.” Rustagi recently invested in Silverbacks’ portfolio company, the Cape Town Tigers, a basketball team that reached the 2024 BAL/NBA Africa semi-finals.
“This 9th exit is another validation of our long-term strategy and reaffirms the exceptional calibre of entrepreneurs we support,” said Ibrahim Sagna, Executive Chairman of Silverbacks Holdings.
The move reflects a broader trend of investors finding liquidity through secondary sales in Africa’s maturing startup ecosystem. Since Silverbacks began investing in Africa, its Nigerian portfolio has returned an average 10.7x multiple on invested capital (MOIC)—a measure of how many times an investment has been returned— and an 81.5% internal rate of return (IRR), the annualised return an investment has earned factoring in the exact timing of every cash-in and cash-out, in two years and eight months. In Egypt, exits have been even more lucrative, averaging a 9.7x MOIC and a 339% IRR over 1 year and 7 months.
Silverbacks’ investments in Africa have outperformed those elsewhere. Africa has returned nearly four times the capital Silverbacks has invested on the continent, led by strong fintech performance with a 13.7x MOIC and a 91.9% IRR over an average 3.7-year holding period. In comparison, the firm’s non-African exits posted a more modest 1.3x MOIC.
“These consistent, strong exits with attractive IRRs demonstrate that investing in Africa is not only viable but also a smart move for generating superior returns,” the firm said. Silverback’s African portfolio cuts across African fintech, media, sports, and fashion with investments in Moove, Wave, Flutterwave, Shuttlers, African Warriors Fighting Championship (AWFC), and the Cape Town Tigers Basketball Club.
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