nFuse raises $2M as messaging overtakes B2B ordering apps

nFuse, an AI-powered B2B ordering platform that enables retailers and HoReCa operators to place orders through WhatsApp, Viber, and SMS using text, voice, or images, has raised $2 million in funding from Eleven Ventures and LAUNCHub.

For the past decade, every major FMCG company has had the same idea: build a B2B eCommerce platform, get retailers to download it, and watch orders roll in digitally. The results have been almost universally disappointing.

Adoption rates for B2B ordering apps in fragmented trade hover around 15 per cent. Implementation timelines stretch to 18 months. And the retailers these platforms were built to serve — millions of small shops, kiosks, and independent stores across emerging markets — largely ignore them.

The lived experience that led to nFuse

Stoyan Ivanov and Stefan Radov watched this pattern repeat for nearly 30 years combined at Coca-Cola, working across distribution, sales, and go-to-market operations. They didn't learn about fragmented trade from market research - they lived it, visiting thousands of small retailers and watching firsthand as digital initiatives repeatedly failed to gain traction.

"We were the people being asked to make these B2B platforms work," Radov explains.

"We sat in the meetings where adoption targets kept getting missed. We saw the gap between what headquarters wanted and what actually happened in the field. Eventually, we decided to build what we wished had existed."

The digital gap in fragmented trade

Fragmented trade - the network of independent retailers, small shops, and kiosks that dominate commerce in emerging markets - represents over $5 trillion in global value. And in regions like CESEE, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, these outlets account for the majority of FMCG sales.

They're not a niche. They're the market. Yet the industry's approach to digitising this channel has been remarkably consistent: build sophisticated B2B portals with product catalogues, order management, and analytics dashboards. Train sales reps to onboard retailers and wait for adoption. The waiting tends to last a while.

"The fundamental assumption was wrong," says Stoyan Ivanov, nFuse co-founder and CEO.

"The industry built and designed eB2B for headquarters - for the people who wanted dashboards and data. Not for the retailer standing behind a counter who just needs to reorder beer before the weekend rush."

Industry analysts estimate 80–95 per cent of B2B eCommerce projects underperform or fail outright. The platforms work technically. They just don't work behaviourally. nFuse builds on how retailers actually communicate

Ivanov and Radov’s insight came from watching what retailers actually did, not what platforms wanted them to do.  Across emerging markets, small retailers were already running their businesses through messaging apps — sending photos of empty shelves, handwritten notes on Viber or voice-messaging orders because typing was slower.

nFuse is built on this observation. Retailers place orders via WhatsApp, Viber, or SMS using text, voice, or photos. No app to download, no login to remember, no interface to learn. A photo of an empty shelf becomes a confirmed order in seconds.

“These retailers aren’t technology-averse,” says Stefan Radov, co-founder and COO. 

"They're using technology constantly. Just not the technology we kept trying to give them. They don't want another app. They want to order the same way they message their family."

nFuse hits 70 per cent where B2B platforms stall

The numbers back the approach: while traditional B2B platforms struggle to reach 10–15 per cent adoption, nFuse reports 70 per cent+ adoption among enterprise clients. Revenue per outlet increases 15–30 per cent. Deployment takes eight weeks - not eighteen months.

The economics shift too. Traditional B2B ordering - whether through sales reps, call centres, or underused portals - carries a high cost per transaction. nFuse drives cost per order targeting below $1, a 5x to 20x reduction that fundamentally changes the math on serving small, frequent-ordering retailers that were previously too expensive to reach efficiently.

Early clients report ordering frequency jumping from monthly to weekly cycles. Retailers who previously waited for a sales rep visit now reorder whenever they need stock.

For brands, this means increased volume, a direct channel to push more SKUs - including new launches - and faster feedback on what's moving. Outlets themselves are choosing nFuse as their primary ordering channel over portals, call centres, or waiting for a rep.

The company is already working with category leaders across beverages, dairy, pet food, and wholesale distribution - validating the model across FMCG verticals, not just one category.

According to Ivaylo Simov, Partner, Eleven Ventures, Stoyan and Stefan know the FMCG industry inside out and have set out an ambitious task to solve the broken model of B2B e-commerce solutions. 

“Instead of asking retailers to change their behaviour, the advancements in AI have opened a new frontier of intelligent solutions that "speak" their language via the channels they usually use.

This unlocks enormous opportunities for brands, as the tail of the market (i.e. all the fragmented hotels, small shops and restaurants) can now be served efficiently and at scale."  

Rumen Iliev, Partner, LAUNCHub Ventures, shared that the B2B eCommerce graveyard is full of platforms that worked technically but failed commercially. 

“Most portals force unnatural behaviour — buyers do not want to click through SKUs and quantities. nFuse makes ordering natural again via voice, text, or image, just like speaking or texting to a sales rep.

With 30 years in distribution, the founders have seen exactly where adoption fails. We backed the insight as much as the product.”  

The funding will accelerate nFuse's expansion across Europe, with plans to move into broader EMEA and American markets. But Ivanov sees the self-ordering flow as just the entry point.

"Self-ordering is where we start because it's the most obvious pain point," he says.

"But once you're the channel through which orders flow, you become the infrastructure for the entire relationship between brands and retailers. Trade marketing, promotions, inventory visibility, loyalty programs — it all runs through the same conversation."

With the core model proven, nFuse sees payments and micro-lending as the next unlock: letting retailers pay through the same WhatsApp thread where they order, collapsing an entire workflow into one conversation. It's the same thesis applied to a bigger problem. Not "how do we build better apps?" but "how do we stop asking people to install them?"

"The industry spent a decade trying to get retailers to come to us," says Ivanov. "We're just going to where they already are."