Tanzanian Fintech Ramani Raises $32M in Series A Equity and Debt Round

Ramani, the African software company building a cloud network of micro-distribution centers for Africa’s $1 trillion consumer packaged goods supply chain, today announced the closing of its $32 million Series A round of equity and debt.

The round was led by renowned global technology investors Flexcap Ventures and renowned founder/CEO of Infoscout, Jared Schreiber.

Ramani also raised an undisclosed seed funding in 2021 that included participation from Village Global, Goat Capital, Musha Ventures, Hustle Fund, Future Africa, Launch Africa Ventures, Raba Capital and renowned angel investor, James Beshara. Ramani was initially backed by Y-combinator.

With this new capital funding, Ramani will scale its network of micro distribution centers (MDCs) and also launch a new micro credit offering for select MDCs.

Founded in 2019, Ramani focuses on fixing fragmented consumer goods supply chains that traditionally suffer from a lack of data visibility and are burdened by limited access to financial services.

To address these challenges, Ramani provides technology-enabled inventory management systems, procurement and point-of-sale software to digitize the processes of MDCs, helping them gain real-time sales insights and inventory visibility.

The Tanzanian Fintech 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 further scale its customers.

MDCs in Ramani’s network have been able to increase their revenue by at least 20% since subscribing and leveraging the platform’s diverse features such as real-time inventory tracking.

The upcoming microcredit vertical will give eligible retailers access to interest-free lines of credit to help them manage cash flow more efficiently.

Ramani also plans to create ways for everyday Africans to earn passive income from the trillion dollar CPG industry by investing with the company.

Commenting on the Series A, Ramani CEO and co-founder Iain Usiri said, “Ultimately, we want to make it easier for businesses to succeed in Africa, and this new capital is another brick in that foundation. We have leveraged our Silicon Valley relationships and partnered with globally recognized investors, many of whom are successful founders ourselves. We are committed to repaying their faith in us and Africa.”

Andrew Vigneault, Co-Founder and General Partner of Flexcap Ventures added, “The CPG industry in Africa is 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 confident that the company will continue to achieve market-leading growth, driven by a strong management team with exceptional technical expertise.”

Tanzanian Fintech was founded by brothers Iain and Calvin Usiri, and Kibet Martin who were born and raised in Tanzania and Kenya respectively.

They have a background in computer science and finance from Stanford, Google, Salesforce and CapGemini.

Their decision to return home to build an industry-defining product was driven by personal conviction to leverage their skills and ingenuity and solve local challenges.

Ramani joins other companies such as Wasoko, Tushop and Pando DAO to operate from Silicon Zanzibar, the public-private initiative to attract and relocate technology companies and workers from across Africa and beyond to the island of Zanzibar.

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