Kenyan Re-Commerce startup Badili Africa raises $2.1 million to scale its operations

Badili Africa, a Kenya-based buy-back platform for old phones, has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to scale its operations within Africa, one of the fastest-growing mobile phone markets in the world.

Launched in March 2022 by Rishabh Lawania and Keshu Dubey, Badili buys pre-owned phones and sells refurbished smartphones that are tagged “as good as new, for half the price” and comes with a 12-month warranty.

Badili has expanded to over 37 cities and towns in Kenya boasting about $2 million in annual revenue. It already has about 270 partner retail stores, 120 agents, “Hustler” stores and two exclusive Badili stores.

Badili also carries out trade-ins and buybacks on behalf of major OEMs and phone dealers and claims to have signed partnerships in Kenya with all major smartphone manufacturers and Telcos, including Samsung & Apple.

It is estimated that the global refurbished smartphone industry will grow at an annual growth rate of 10.23% between 2022 and 2027, according to data from Statista, while the overall used phone market in Sub-Saharan Africa alone was over 90 million phones in 2020, per estimates.

With this funding, Badili plans to explore new growth opportunities in West Africa, where it hopes to tap an increasing demand for affordable second-hand smartphones, even as it scales its operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.