Maad raises $3.2M seed
Annie Njanja | May 13, 2024
Maad, a B2B e-commerce startup based in Senegal, has secured $3.2 million debt-equity funding to bolster its growth in the western Africa country and to explore fresh opportunities in the wider Francophone region.
The seed round was led by Ventures Platform, with participation from Seedstars International Ventures, Reflect Ventures, Oui Capital, Launch Africa, Voltron Capital and Alumni Ventures. It raised the $900,000 debt financing from French DFI Proparco and local banks.
Maad’s end-to-end distribution platform enables informal retailers (mom and pop stores) to source fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) directly from partner suppliers, tackling key issues they face, including stockouts and high-cost of inventory brought by multiple levels of dealers.
Sidy Niang (CEO) and Jessica Long (COO) launched Maad in 2020, initially as a data collection provider before pivoting to building software to help companies manage their own internal distribution. How FMCG suppliers utilized the software to deal with distribution challenges inspired the launch of the B2B e-commerce business in September 2021.
