Tanzania’s Ramani, which is building a cloud network of micro-distribution centres for Africa’s US$1 trillion consumer-packaged goods supply chain, has announced the close of its US$32million Series A funding round.
Founded in 2019 by Iain Usiri, Calvin Usiri and Kibet Martin, Ramani is focused on fixing fragmented consumer goods supply chains that traditionally suffer from lack of data visibility and are burdened by limited access to financial services.
To address these challenges, the startup provides tech-enabled inventory management systems, procurement, and point of sale software to digitise the processes of micro-distribution centres (MDCs), helping them gain real-time sales insights and inventory visibility. Ramani is then also able to leverage this data to offer up inventory with delayed payment terms, enabling them to scale.
This year, the company acquired a lending license from the Central Bank of Tanzania to scale their customers further, and it has now banked a US$32 million debt and equity funding round to help it grow.
The round was led by renowned global technology investors Flexcap Ventures and Jared Schreiber, the founder and CEO of Infoscout. Originally backed by Y Combinator, Ramani also raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding in 2021, which included participation from Village Global, Goat Capital, Musha Ventures, Hustle Fund, Future Africa, Launch Africa Ventures, Raba Capital, and angel investor James Beshara.
With this new capital funding, Ramani will scale its network of MDCs and also launch a new micro-credit offering for select MDCs.
“Ultimately, we want to make it easier for businesses to succeed in Africa and this new capital is another brick in that foundation. We’ve leveraged our Silicon Valley relationships and partnered with globally renowned investors, many of whom are successful founders themselves. We’re committed to repaying their faith in us and in Africa,” Usiri said.
Andrew Vigneault, coo-founder and general partner of Flexcap Ventures, said the CPG industry in Africa was being systematically transformed by Ramani’s huge ambition for a vastly improved and more efficient supply chain.
“It has been a pleasure to witness Ramani’s success and traction so far and we are certain the company will continue to achieve market-leading growth, fueled by a strong leadership team with exceptional technical expertise,” he said.
