Badili, a smartphone re-commerce firm in Kenya, has acquired USD 2.1 million in pre-seed capital to expand the firm’s operations in Africa, one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone marketplaces.
The round was attended by Venture Catalysts, , Grenfell Holdings, and SOSV, V&R Africa as well as family offices and angel investors from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and India.
Badili aims to investigate new growth potential in West Africa. It expects to exploit an expanding demand for inexpensive second-hand cellphones, even as it grows its operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Ugandabolstered by the fresh capital.
Rishabh Lawania (CEO) stated:
“We’re launching in Uganda and Tanzania, and we’ve formed strong alliances with original equipment manufacturers. We will be expanding to a few West African markets in the next six months to get our foot in the door of some of Africa’s major markets,” said ,
Badili handles trade-ins and buybacks on behalf of major OEMs and phone dealers, and has already formed agreements with big companies such as Samsung. It also purchases gadgets from people.
“One of my ex-employees in Kenya was arrested for purchasing a stolen phone, and it occurred to me that most people here can’t buy used goods since the only choice is the grey market, which is unsafe. That’s when the Badili concept came into play. I saw that things needed to change,” said Lawania, the creator of Wee Media (the parent business of the WeeTracker news site) and gadgets in Africa.
In most African nations, including Kenya, where feature phones still dominate the handset market, affordability remains a major obstacle to smartphone penetration, which is critical to fueling Africa’s digital economy. According to recent data from Kenya’s Communications Authority, while smartphone adoption is increasing, the market share of feature phones is still 55.1%.
In Africa, the latest International Data Corporation (IDC) data shows that consumers opted for cheaper options as feature phone shipments increased by 10.6% in the year’s second quarter. In comparison, smartphone consignments decreased by 7.9% due to rising inflation and a deteriorating economic outlook.
Furthermore, Badili is entering the booming refurbished and used mobile phone industry, which is anticipated to reach USD 146 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11%, thanks partly to rising smartphone penetration in emerging markets.
Badili purchases its phones through its platform and a nationwide network of retailers and agents. It calculates the worth of the phone using its estimating price algorithm, which takes into consideration a variety of characteristics such as the phone’s age and model. The phones are very refurbished, repackaged, and resold with a one-year guarantee.
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