Artha India Ventures Invests In African Startup Badili This marks AIV's first investment in Africa and eleventh international investment that covers Israel, USA and Israel
By Teena Jose
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Artha India Ventures (AIV), the family office of Ashok Kumar Damani, has announced a pre-Seed investment in Badili, Africa's first online buy-back platform for smartphones, based in Kenya. This marks AIV's first investment in Africa and eleventh international investment that covers Isreal, USA and Africa. Investors such as Rajesh Sawhney, Ritesh Malik, SOSV, Uncovered Fund and Grenfell Holdings also participated in the funding round.
Badili is a re-commerce startup for old mobile phones. The company buys phones from a user, refurbishes and sells them to the consumers looking for a cheaper alternative to a new phone with equivalent features. According to a statement by the company, Badili has a serviceable market of more than 130 million second-hand smart phone users in Africa and the startup expected to reach a user base of 60 million by 2023.
"We have received a tremendous response from the African startup ecosystem and look forward to invest in 4 to 5 Africa-focused startups every year. Moreover, we are not limited to Seed rounds and have expanded our investment strategy to pre-Series A and Series A rounds for this important continent," said Anirudh Damani, director, AIV.
As per reports, on the ecological front, India is one of the highest e-waste generating nations in the world, of which 12 per cent can be attributed to smart phones. Badili aims to limit the adverse impact of used phones and transact 100 million used phones annually by 2026.
"With over 20 per cent of smart phone users in Kenya opting for second-hand smart phone devices, we have identified a clear demand in this segment. So much so that we have partnered with various suppliers across countries, leading with India that can enable us to meet the initial demand," said Rishabh Lawania, founder and CEO, Badili.
Founded in 2012, Artha India Ventures has a portfolio of over 75 companies across India, USA, Israel and Africa. It has a sector-agnostic investment outlook in segments such as edtech, e-commerce, auto and healthtech amongst others.
