The things we don’t forget

Medsaf’s quiet shutdown and new numbers from Omniretail

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Happy Eid al-Adha to those who celebrate! Now, let’s get into today’s newsletter.

The Things We Don’t Forget

Say what you will about journalism—the hours, the pay, the absence of job security— but it’s rarely boring. You’re always stumbling across something: a name, a company, a quiet shutdown notice that takes you back.

This week, it was a news report that Medsaf, a healthtech startup once positioned as a critical link in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical supply chain, had shut down in 2024. According to one publication:

“CEO Vivian Nwakah cited a failed acquisition process, outstanding debts, and large sums owed by hospitals that the company had been unable to recover. ‘We have made the decision to close Medsaf effective immediately,’ she wrote.”

Most people probably scrolled past it. Just another startup quietly folding. Medsaf wasn’t a household name. It raised just $2 million in its lifetime.

But it stuck with me because I remembered a very different story from July 2023.

Back then, Medsaf had laid off all its staff. Many hadn’t been paid in months. There were allegations of financial misconduct, which the company denied. I tried to get the full picture. But the conversation with the CEO quickly devolved into strong words, name-calling, and a now-deleted LinkedIn post slamming the media.

She told us she was building for poor Africans, including, by her logic, poor journalists like us. The media, she argued, had no business pulling down startups like hers.

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that argument. Probably won’t be the last. It’s a reminder that sometimes, what people want from the media isn’t coverage, it’s compliance.

I’m redacting my other thoughts so we don’t revive another boring “founders vs the media” debate.

Postscript: Numbers, Memory, and a New Name in the Room

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Flour Mills of Nigeria’s investments in OmniRetail and Alerzo and how the numbers told a tale of two bets.

This week, Omniretail followed up with detailed responses that filled in a few blanks:

• On payments: OmniPay now processes ₦193 billion (~$128 million) in monthly payment volume and disbursed ₦94 billion in product loans across the platform in 2024 alone.

• On profitability: While Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire are still early plays, the Nigerian e-commerce business hit net profitability in October 2024 and has stayed in the black since. As a group, Omniretail says it’s net profitable and EBIT positive.

• On Tolaram: The company confirmed it’s one of the platforms Tolaram uses for distributor ordering and payments, but stopped short of calling itself the primary channel.

• On what drives margins: It claimed e-commerce is the backbone. But OmniPay’s lending products lift basket sizes and order frequency, nudging the overall platform metrics upward.

• And a new name: “As you know, Norfund invested in OmniRetail during Series A. This is their first direct equity investment in African fintech,” said an OmniRetail spokesperson. Norfund, the Norwegian government’s development finance institution, typically backs infrastructure, agriculture, and energy.

It’s rare to get numbers this detailed after a story has run. So, credit where it’s due.

PalmPay Eyes Unicorn Status

PalmPay is officially in its unicorn era, or at least trying to be. According to TechCrunch, the fintech is in talks to raise up to $100 million in a Series B round.

If that closes anywhere near the upper limit, PalmPay will likely join the billion-dollar club alongside its peers, OPay ($2.75 billion) and Moniepoint, which recently raised $120 million at a yet-undisclosed valuation that’s very likely nine figures.

PalmPay’s been quiet but consistent. It raised $40 million in seed funding in 2019 (one of the largest ever seed rounds in Africa), and followed it with a $100 million Series A in 2021 — bringing total capital raised to $140 million.

It has a few things going for it:

• One of the most reliable mobile banking apps in the market

• A strong agent network,

• A lending business run by a third party (a useful distance in this climate),

• And a pre-install deal with Transsion that’s put the app in millions of hands via Tecno and Itel phones.

While Moniepoint is playing for dominance in Nigeria and other African countries and flirting with remittances, PalmPay is thinking bigger has its eyes on Asia. It already has a presence in Ghana, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and South Africa, an expansion play that might explain the timing of this raise.

If the round closes, PalmPay won’t just be the quiet fintech anymore. It’ll be the quiet unicorn.

There’ll be no Notadeepdive this Sunday. See you next Friday!

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