Kenyan smartphone re-commerce startup, Badili has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to expand growth across Africa’s fast-growing mobile phone market.
Investors in the round were Venture Catalysts, V&R Africa, Grenfell holdings, and SOSV. Family offices and angel investors from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and India also participated.
The fund will stimulate Badili’s growth in West Africa, where it hopes to tap an increasing demand for affordable second-hand smartphones, as well as boost its operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania where it has already established strong partnerships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Badili was founded by Rishabh Lawania, the CEO, and Keshu Dubey, the CTO, to tackle the challenge of high demand for second-hand phones, in a world where lots of stolen phones are being circulated and the risk of false accusations on innocent buyers is high.
The company carries out trade-ins and buybacks on behalf of major OEMs and phone dealers, it also buys devices from individuals too. Badili has signed partnerships with key brands like Samsung and 60% of its customers are individuals upgrading from a feature to smartphone, with devices sold costing less than half their original prices, ultimately bringing about affordability and safety.
Badili buys the phones through its platform, and a network of shops, as well as agents, spread across the country. It uses its price estimation algorithm, which takes into account various factors including the age of the phone and model, to calculate the value of the phone. The phones are revamped, repackaged and resold with a one-year warranty.
The company utilises details such as the ID and mugshot of the sellers, signing of a right of ownership affidavit on the device and has set up a system that can flag frequent sellers.
Badili is currently setting up and scaling technology, systems, partnerships and networks needed to build Africa’s most trusted and biggest consumer electronics re-commerce marketplace.
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