Silverbacks Sells OmniRetail Stake at 5x Exit as Secondaries Surge
TLDR
- Silverbacks Holdings sold part of its stake in OmniRetail, the Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform, earning a 5x return on its investment
- The exit came after OmniRetail raised $20 million in Series A funding with participation from Flour Mills of Nigeria
- The company topped the Financial Times' list of Africa's fastest-growing companies after revenue jumped from $280,000 in 2020 to over $120 million in 2023
Silverbacks Holdings sold part of its stake in OmniRetail, the Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform, earning a 5x return on its investment. The exit came after OmniRetail raised $20 million in Series A funding with participation from Flour Mills of Nigeria.
OmniRetail connects 150,000 retailers with 5,800 distributors through its platform. The company topped the Financial Times' list of Africa's fastest-growing companies after revenue jumped from $280,000 in 2020 to over $120 million in 2023. The platform processed over 1.3 trillion naira ($810 million) in transactions in 2024. "Silverbacks has been a resourceful early investor," said Deepankar Rustagi, OmniRetail's CEO. The exit marks Silverbacks' ninth profitable exit, following a 29x return from its Lemfi sale last month.
Silverbacks' African investments have returned 4x invested capital, led by fintech deals with 13.7x returns. The firm's Nigerian portfolio averaged 10.7x returns with 81.5% internal rates of return over 2.8 years. Egyptian exits performed better with 9.7x returns and 339% IRR over 1.6 years. "These exits demonstrate that investing in Africa is viable and smart for generating returns," Silverbacks said.
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Key Takeaways
The partial exit reflects a shift in Africa's startup ecosystem toward secondary sales as investors seek liquidity without waiting for IPOs or acquisitions. Africa's startup ecosystem has faced an exit problem, with only 143 exits from 2,971 venture deals since 2019, representing a 4.8% exit rate. African startups raised $2.2 billion in 2024 with only 22 exits recorded, highlighting the challenge investors face in realizing returns. Secondary sales allow early investors to capture gains while remaining invested, providing flexibility in markets where traditional exits remain scarce. The trend comes as African startup funding dropped 25% to $2.2 billion in 2024, making liquidity more important for investors. OmniRetail's success story—with its path to profitability and strong growth metrics—represents the type of mature startup that can support secondary transactions. The company's embedded finance platform processes $95 million monthly with loan default rates below 0.5%, providing the operational stability that secondary buyers seek in today's market.
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