Egypt-based el-dokan, a company that specialises in enterprise e-commerce solutions, has raised a $550,000 pre-Seed round led by a group of local and regional investors including EFG EV and Flat6Labs, 500 Global and Hala Ventures.

Founded in 2020 by Ahmed Maher, Mohammed Shirt and Sherif Alaa, el-dokan offers e-commerce technology to corporate clients to set up their web storefronts. It primarily caters to long-tail businesses, software houses as well as startups.

The company said it helped its clients achieve $45 million in GMV sales.

Press release

el-dokan, the first-of-its-kind company to offer enterprise e-commerce technology in MENA, has announced that it successfully secured a $550,000 pre-Seed round, led by a cluster of local and regional investors including EFG EV and Flat6Labs, 500 Global and Hala Ventures.

E-commerce is now an integral part of every retailer’s business strategy, and technology builders and platforms are scrambling to provide retailers with the best technology to help them scale up and optimize their operations.

Unlike companies like Shopify and other local shop builders in the region whose focus is to address the needs of smaller retailers, in its latest turn, el-dokan provides e-commerce APIs for large- and medium-sized retailers as well as startups, enabling them to build highly customized and personalized e-commerce stores.

Launched in late 2020 in Egypt, el-dokan primarily targets large retailers and chain stores seeking to expand their e-commerce market share, increase sales and operation automation.

Utilizing "headless e-commerce technology, el-dokan offers the optimal technology infrastructure that allows tech teams to develop highly customizable e-commerce with maximum flexibility to help businesses respond faster to changing business needs and keep up with the rapid changes in e-commerce.

Besides retailers, it also targets software companies and developers that work directly with enterprises looking to build their e-commerce stores in fast and cost-efficient manner, with 300+ available API endpoints.

Commenting on the announcement, Ahmed Maher, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of el-dokan, said that the key reason behind the company's ability to earn the trust of investors and close its pre-Seed round is the fact that el-dokan is among the very select few companies that focus on building advanced software using cutting-edge technologies such as headless, composable e-commerce architecture.

"The majority of retailers have repeatedly shown the willingness to either replace the traditional e-commerce methods with more advanced and flexible technology. The technology pioneered by el-dokan 'changes the equation' by helping retailers drive sales growth while simultaneously bringing down maintenance costs, making it possible for our retailers to quickly and easily develop APIs connections with our partners to ensure the highest levels of operational efficiency. Our technology can easily integrate with any third-party providers like payments, shipping, point of sale (POS) and (ERP) systems," commented Mohamed Yousry, chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder of el-dokan.

“After seeing the great impact el-dokan has had on enterprise businesses in MENA, and the profound growth we’ve experienced over a short period of time, we’re excited about the fact that our clients managed to achieve $45 million GMV after migrating from other global well-known software solutions that don’t meet the present-day challenges to ours. We are now serving a global roster of clients such as Procter & Gamble (P&G), Misr Pharmacies, Mobily, Zahran stores and Apple Premium seller Switch Plus, along with grocery delivery app Appetito, among others.

And this is a testament to the ability of regionally-based tech startups to develop leading-edge technologies trusted by large, international brands and compete with global counterparts," Yousry explained.

For his part, Walid Hassouna, CEO of valU, Egypt's leading buy now pay later (BNPL) platform expressed his excitement over the company's successful completion of its initial funding round which counts EFG EV among its earliest backers.

"We are looking forward to exciting times ahead with el-dokan and its all-star team who are able to carve out a niche for themselves in the rapidly-evolving e-commerce market," said Hassouna.

Source: Wamda

• Egypt-based foodtech startup BONBELL, has raised $350,000 from a Candian angel investor.
• Founded in 2022 by Doaa Abdel-Hameed, BONBELL offers a cloud-based online food ordering and delivery system, enabling restaurant managers to handle dine-in orders, table reservations, and curbside delivery.
• BONBELL will use the investment to expand its network of restaurant partners to 750 by the end of 2022.
• It also is set on a course of closing a $10 million.

Press release

Egypt’s startup BONBELL, The first mobile App in the Food-tech industry specializing in food ordering, digital solutions for table and meal reservations, has closed an initial funding round for $350,000 through a Canadian Angel investor, to help further develop the App services and achieve a level of growth in regard to user count and daily orders.

BONBELL launched its own App in early 2022, to offer a wide range of food ordering services in Egypt, as the App offers many food ordering solutions, from food delivery to restaurant’s reservations and Dine-in ordering through a QR Code on the tables, as well as take away services.

The App offers various payment solutions through cash or credit cards.

BONBELL has partnered with many restaurants and cafes, as well as clubs like Heliopolis Club and Smash Club. It also offers its services in Malls and Cinemas, to offer a smoother food ordering experience, reserving tables and food delivery, for mall and cinema-goers.

BONBELL has also strategically partnered with many leading major companies and institutions, most notably the German University in Cairo (GUC), and Raya Telecom, in order to offer its services in their respective headquarters for employees and visitors alike.

BONBELL targets raising its partnered restaurants to 750 by the end of 2022, the company is also negotiating with two venture capital funds from Europe and the Gulf, to close a $10 million fund in its seed round by the end of the year.

Doaa Abdel-Hameed, the chief business officer of the company said: “We aim to help restaurants in offering an easier food ordering experience to their customers, either through food delivery or reserving a table in the restaurant, as well as take away orders and also the special orders made by customers in their restaurants.”

“We pursue a better experience for the Egyptian user in food ordering, we see a lot of potential and opportunities to do that through developing the App constantly based on the user reviews, and adding more restaurants in all of the Egyptian governorates.” She added.

BONBELL has earned the trust of more than 12,000 customers, who used the app for food ordering in all the ways offered through the App, in just 6 months.

Doaa Abdel-Hameed emphasized that the success of BONBELL App, in offering the best experience to its users can only be done through strategic partnerships with many more restaurants, in addition to the constant development of the technology used in the App, as well as relying on offering inventive solutions to the Egyptian user such as (Robotic Stations) service.

This service will offer customers the experience of food ordering and serving through a Robot, without any human intervention.

This service is expected to launch in Egypt by the end of 2023.

Source: Wamda

UAE-based DeFi platform ZKX has raised $4.5 million in Seed funding from StarkWare, Alameda Research, Amber Group, Huobi and Crypto.com.

Founded in 2021 by Eduard Jubany Tur, Naman Sehgal, and Vitaly Yakovlev, ZKX is a decentralised finance platform that helps make faster transactions and keeps gas fees low, and is built on StarkNet.

The funding will go towards further development of its open-source protocol, DAO funding and growth of the ZXK ecosystem.

Dubai-based DeFi platform ZKX raised $4.5 million in seed funding today from StarkWare, Alameda Research, Amber Group, Huobi, Crypto.com and others.

The decentralised finance platform helps make faster transactions and keeps gas fees low, and is built on StarkNet. These funds were raised in spite of a cryptocrash in particular and funding winter in general

“The downturn is driven by the Federal Reserve tightening interest rates and driving de-risking across asset classes. Alameda, Crypto.com, and our other partners have been actively fostering and building the Web3 ecosystem for years. This should only strengthen the ecosystem in the long run by cleaning up the bad apples and focusing on the strongest players,” said Eduard Jubany Tur, Founder at ZKX.

The funding will go towards further development of its open-source protocol, DAO funding and growth of the ZXK ecosystem.

ZKX was founded in 2021 by Eduard Jubany Tur, Naman Sehgal, and Vitaly Yakovlev. The team has hired from Flipkart, PayTM, and Byju’s, with decades of shared experience in venture building and scaling technology startups in over eight countries.

It had earlier received investment from Sandeep Nailwal, co-Founder, Polygon, and Ashwin Ramachandran, General Partner, DragonFly Capital.

The platform aims to address some of the key challenges of the DeFi market, such as over-reliance on centralized entities, scalability, high gas fees for traders and painful user experience.

“We are determined to build an exchange that breaks down the barriers to using DeFi by building a protocol that enables trading derivatives of assets on StarkNet. Our goal is to expand our reach across emerging markets, enabling users to have fair representation within a DAO,” said Jubany.

Source: Business Insider

By: Mohammed Shabani

Supy, UAE- based B2B food company, has announced that it has raised more than $8 million in a seed funding round, from BECO capital with many participations include Valia Ventures, COTU ventures, Global Ventures and AMK investment Office. According to the founders The fresh funds will be used to improve its technology, as well as strengthen its product offering, scale- out its Sadia Arabia presence, and launch its settlement and payment solution to help suppliers reconcile invoices while allowing restaurants to better manage their payables and cash flow.

Supy in brief

Supy was co-founded in February 2021 by Dani El-Zein and Ibrahim Bou Ncoula, and works on digitizing the communication process between restaurants and suppliers.

Their software is available on web and mobile and helps restaurants improve profit margins by providing them with insights on their purchasing trends at both an ingredient level and a supplier level.

Supy Aiming to reach Global

In his comment on the lasts funding round, Dani El-Zein, Co-Founder and CEO of Supy said “We are on a mission to become a global leader in this space, and our growth since our pre-seed funding round is a testament that we are on track with the right set of partners” and about his company new aim to reach to the Saudi Arabia market, He said “KSA is the perfect location for our first international expansion outside the UAE and into the global market. Supy was created to solve a crucial problem for one of the most dynamic industries, and we can’t wait to expand our software offerings to our customer base”.

source: News

• KSA-based fintech HyperPay has raised $36.7 million in a funding round led by Mastercard, with participation from Amwal Capital Partners and AB Ventures.
• Founded in 2010 by Muhannad Ebwini, HyperPay is a payment gateway that offers merchants payment processing services, such as risk and fraud management, monitoring system, instalments and invoicing systems among others.
• This new funding round will support HyperPay’s regional expansion plans into Egypt, Qatar and Oman. It will also enable HyperPay to grow its tech team and invest in product research and development, to introduce new payment technology solutions with speed.

Press release:

KSA-based and MENA servicing payments services provider HyperPay has successfully raised $36.7 million (SAR 138 million) in a funding round led by Mastercard with investments from Amwal Capital Partners and AB Ventures. Founded by Muhannad Ebwini, HyperPay offers merchants a broad array of products and services in addition to payment processing, including risk and fraud management, monitoring system, instalments and invoicing systems among others.

The transaction with Mastercard will help accelerate HyperPay’s expansion beyond payments to deliver a complete suite of financial products that meet the evolving needs of its customers across all verticals.

The partnership will allow HyperPay to offer new services to help businesses, governments and SMEs move from cash-based payments to a frictionless and seamless ecosystem utilising the innovative capabilities of both HyperPay and Mastercard.

Muhannad Ebwini, Founder and CEO of HyperPay commented, “HyperPay is delighted to welcome Mastercard, Amwal, and AB Ventures as new investors and we are confident of the value-add they bring to our company to achieve its long-term growth strategy. This successful funding round is a testament of the investors' interest in the payments sector in KSA and the GCC as a whole and its attractive long-term perspectives.” 

This new funding round will support HyperPay’s regional expansion efforts, broadening its market to Egypt, Qatar, and Oman. It will also enable HyperPay to grow its tech team and invest in product research and development, to introduce new payment technology solutions with speed.

“The proceeds from the round will be directed towards creating innovative solutions that will redefine the future of cashless payments in the MENA region. They will help us accelerate our growth beyond payments and allow us to deliver a wide array of products. We have earned our reputation by being quick to respond to the dynamic needs of our partners.” Ebwini concluded.

source: Wamda

• Egypt-based fintech Paymob has raised $50 million in Series B funding, led by Kora Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Clay Point.
• Founded in 2015 by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj and Mostafa El Menessy, Paymob provides online and offline merchants with digital payment solutions.
• The new funding will be used to help the company to expand its product range, enhance its presence in the Egyptian market, and expand into new markets across the Middle East and Africa region.

Press release:

Paymob, Egypt’s market-leading omnichannel merchant financial services platform, today announced it has raised $50 million in Series B funding. The proceeds will be used to turbocharge the company by expanding its product range, reinforcing its leadership in the Egyptian market, and expanding into new markets across the Middle East and Africa region.

Kora Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Clay Point led the round. Other new participating investors included Helios Digital Ventures, British International Investment, and Nclude. All existing investors including A15, FMO, and Global Ventures also participated. 

This funding round is the largest ever fintech, Series B in Egypt, and brings the total funding of Paymob to over US$68.5 million making it one of the most funded companies in the region and comes at a pivotal time of an unprecedented wave of digital transformation across the region. 

Paymob builds an omni-channel payment infrastructure to enable businesses to accept digital payments both online and in-store in addition to giving them better access to financial services.

Paymob’s gateway has the largest number of payment methods in the Egyptian market; in addition to conventional bank cards, Paymob added new payment methods such as mobile wallets, QR payments, bank cards’ instalments, Buy-Now Pay-Later, and consumer finance payment options to support merchants in increasing their volume of transactions and growing revenues.

Recently, Paymob partnered with Mastercard to introduce Tap-on-Phone in Egypt - the first of its kind in the country and which will start to replace traditional point of sale devices. Paymob plans to launch cards for its merchants to enable B2B transactions and build tools for merchants to better manage and grow their business. 

This unique proposition has enabled Paymob to attract numerous international players such as Vodafone, LG, Virgin, Chalhoub Group, and Decathlon that have turned to Paymob’s digital payment products in addition to fast-growing companies such as Swvl, Breadfast, and Homzmart that are relying on Paymob to power their payment infrastructure to enhance customer experience and increase conversion at checkout. 

The round comes on the back of strong growth across the Paymob platform in 2021, with the number of merchants and monthly volumes growing by 4x year-on-year as of December 2021. Paymob onboarded over 100,00 merchants in less than two and half years as part of its plan to reach 1 million SMEs across the region.

“We are thrilled to complete this significant fundraising with the support of such renowned international investors including, PayPal Ventures, the venture capital arm of a global pioneer in the digital payment space. It is a major endorsement of the strategy we have implemented to date and the scale of the opportunities we can harness,” said Islam Shawky, Paymob’s Co-founder, and CEO.

He added that "Central Bank of Egypt initiatives that are continuously being introduced in the market to support fintech companies were key to Paymob's growth. The Central Bank has created a regulatory framework to help fintech flourish and participate in making Egypt's digital financial inclusion ambitions a reality.”

Paymob has recently announced its market entry to Pakistan, which has a population of over 220 million, and over 4 million SMEs across the country, and plans to onboard over 100,000 merchants within the first 24 months of launching its operations. 

This expansion should be followed by additional markets in the GCC and North Africa.

“Paymob shares our mission and ambition of advancing digital payments adoption – it has made impressive strides in supporting the growth and success of underserved SMBs,” said Ashish Aggarwal, Director, PayPal Ventures. “We’re honoured to be investing at a critical point in their journey, as Paymob scales game-changing solutions to bridge the fintech gap for businesses across the Middle East and Africa.”

“We are excited to partner with Paymob as they innovate at scale in the offline merchant acquiring and online payment gateway space,” said Nitin Saigal, Founder, Kora Management. “The Paymob team is leveraging key structural changes taking place across Egypt and the Middle East, as these economies evolve from being primarily cash-led to a digital heavy mode of transacting. We look forward to the road ahead.”

source: Wamda

Mashreq, the Dubai lender controlled by the Al Ghurair family, has invested $10 million in UAE-based FinTech start-up Cashew, becoming the latest to tap into a rapidly expanding ‘buy now, pay later' (BNPL) sector.

Founded in 2020, Cashew offers its services in the UAE and Saudi Arabia — the Arab world’s largest economies — through an app and a web-based platform.

As part of the investment, Cashew’s payment platform will be integrated as an option on the acquiring network of Neopay, the payments subsidiary of Mashreq. The lender will also support the start-up to launch in Egypt — the Arab world’s most populous economy — in the last quarter of this year.

In March, Mashreq carved out its payments arm into its new division Neopay, in an effort to help businesses handle credit and debit card payments amid a pandemic-fuelled e-commerce boom.

“Our partnership with Cashew will lead the way for the future of financial services in the region,” Mashreq’s group chief executive Ahmed Abdelaal said.

“We will leverage the full network of Mashreq merchants and consumers to provide our ecosystem with the most ubiquitous and flexible BNPL options in the market,” Mr Abdelaal said.

Mashreq's investment is part of a larger funding round that involves other investors as well, Cashew said, without disclosing further details. Since its inception, the FinTech start-up has raised nearly $10m.

BNPL platforms allow consumers to make purchases without paying the full amount upfront, avoiding the use of credit cards and hefty interest charges. Merchants are still protected through credit risk checks, late fees and blocks on customers who have defaulted.

Consumers can choose to split payments into instalments or simply delay them by weeks to months without any hidden fees, while merchants are paid in full upfront.

The BNPL concept is gaining in popularity across the world and has been disrupting the payments industry, buoyed by consumers' fragile personal finances amid the pandemic-induced economic headwinds.

By 2025, the industry is expected to grow 10 to 15 times its current volume, topping $1 trillion in annual gross merchandise volume by some estimates, according to a report by New York data research consultancy CB Insights.

Nearly $4 billion was invested in BNPL companies last year — up from $1.7bn in 2020, according to Crunchbase.

In the Middle East, platforms such as Dubai-based BNPL start-up Tabby raised $50m last year while Saudi Arabia's Tamara raised a record $110m in a Series A round.

In September, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, the emirate’s biggest Sharia-compliant lender, partnered with Dubai-based digital payments provider Spotii to launch a virtual BNPL prepaid card in the UAE.

“Mashreq is one of the most respected banking brands in the region, so they will bring our customers many benefits as we continue to grow our service offerings … this partnership will give consumers the largest merchant network to shop at, larger ticket size and the ability to pay over longer terms,” said Cashew co-founder and chief executive Ammar Afif.

“We can only accomplish these goals for our customers by partnering with respected financial institutions like Mashreq that understand and want to be a part of the growing BNPL segment,” he added.

Under the partnership, Cashew and Mashreq will offer new products to the market including longer tenure and higher ticket size BNPL options for consumers, the companies said in a joint statement.

They also plan to introduce point-of-sales lending options in the region later this year. It will allow consumers to opt for BNPL but with larger tenures such as six or 12 months.

The UAE's BNPL volumes are expected to jump 71 per cent on an annual basis this year, Mashreq’s senior executive vice president and group head of retail banking Fernando Morillo said.

“This is yet another prime example of the partnerships we can forge with innovative FinTech operators, who share our mission to deliver a safe and seamless payment experience for our customers.

“We eagerly await the roll-out of further services as we continue to empower our customers with more choice and convenience in the UAE and in the future, across Egypt,” said Mr Morillo.

Established in 1967, Mashreq, like its peers in the Middle East, is pivoting towards digital banking and is reducing the number of physical branches to cater to a young, tech-savvy demographic that typically opts to complete its transactions online.

Source: The National News

UAE-based fintech Spades, has raised $2.5 million in investment from European angel investors, including Thibaud Elzière, Eduardo Ronzano and Yan Hascoet, Othmane Bouhlal and Omar Benmoussa.

Founded in 2021 by Mehdi Chraibi, Adnan Haque and Sameer Poonja, ​​Spades is a dine-in payment service for restaurants where customers can pay their bills at the table with no need for app downloads, registrations or setup fees.

The new investment will fuel Spades’ expansion in the UAE and other GCC countries.

Press release:

There’s no denying that the Middle East is growing fast and its restaurant scene is growing even faster. Dining in the UAE means exploring one of the most diverse, vibrant, and delicious food destinations on the planet. Restaurants are increasingly turning to Spades to keep up with dynamic demand while providing a seamless checkout experience for dine-in customers to pay their bills.

Spades was founded by Mehdi Chraibi, Adnan Haque, and Sameer Poonja after successful careers building digital products used by millions of users at VISA, Emirates Airline, Oracle, Millicom, and Rocket Internet. The team is backed by executives with leadership roles at global Payment Service Providers (Adyen, VISA & MasterCard), Cloud Kitchens, and multiple Hospitality Houses in the Middle East.

Their oversubscribed angel round of $2.5M also included prominent European business angels, such as Thibaud Elzière (Founder, Fotolia & eFounders), Eduardo Ronzano (Founder, KelDoc & Managing Partner, Secret Fund), and Yan Hascoet, Othmane Bouhlal, Omar Benmoussa - the Founders of Chauffeur Privé - Kapten (acquired by Free Now), which was closed with early investments from global & regional VCs such as Nordstar and Impact46.

The fintech payment startup has already signed over 150 restaurants in its first 12 weeks and launched with major brands in UAE such as NOLA, Couqley, Alaca, and The Sum of Us. The company is growing fast and recruiting multiple roles across the board this year to cope with its expansion in the GCC and beyond.

How it works:

Spades allows guests to easily pay their bill by scanning a code or tapping to pay, without any downloads or registration, translating into shorter wait times. Trustworthy, and reliable, the platform provides the fastest and most secure payment solution that integrates seamlessly into all major POS systems, making refunds and reconciliation just a click away.

Partner restaurants have already reported doubling their staff tips, turning tables faster, saving trees, and improving guest service. With a solution that caters to both restaurants and customers, Spades is set to revolutionize F&B in the region with just a quick scan and a couple of taps!

Customer journey:

A simple tap to pay or QR code scan allows diners to conveniently and securely clear bills at partner restaurants. The solution also allows diners to split the total bill with friends and add their own tip individually for staff, while paying using their method of choice.

Customers can receive a digital receipt for their records and also review their experience. Through its partnerships, the platform integrates seamlessly with all major POS systems making transactions, refunds, and reconciliation just a click away.

Human-centric approach:

While other like-minded rival technologies create a disconnect between customers and restaurants, Spades has a human-centric approach to challenge the status quo by increasing engagement throughout. The actual order is still placed in person with the wait staff which has been designed to ensure customers continue to get a chance to interact with their server and seek the right dine-in experience, an issue widely encountered by other online ordering platforms.

The automated end-to-end payment integration with any Point of Sale removes all manual errors and simplifies daily reconciliation. By bringing payment to the table, customers can now choose traditional forms of payment or use Spades directly from their phone.

Co-founder of Spades, Adnan Haque said, “With Spades, we have created a seamless payment portal that is fast, secure, and convenient. Our goal is to give back time to customers and restaurants, and create a perfect "phy-gital" harmony that helps achieve an exceptional dine-in experience.”

Investment Associate at Impact46, Saud Alsahaf said, "F&B is an important industry in the local market, and Spades is offering a powerful digital solution to improve the experience for all stakeholders in the value chain. We look forward to making Spades the standard for restaurant payment."

Co-founder and Managing Director of NOLA Social House & Eatery, Alex Economides said, “Since starting with Spades we’ve noticed our staff having more time to engage with guests at the end of their dine-in visit.

Rather than running around at peak hours printing bills and collecting payments. Exceptional service has always been one of the WOW factors at Nola, so with Spades’ efficient and convenient payment method we see a perfect fit.”

source: Wamda

Kuwait-based e-grocery platform Raha, has announced its launch after raising a $6.7 million Seed round led by a group of regional and international investors.

Founded in 2020 by Saleh Al-Tunaib, Raha delivers groceries, fresh produce, and other household essentials. The startup operates out of automated micro-fulfilment centres and controls the full cycle of grocery delivery logistics from procurement to last-mile delivery.

Press release:

Raha, the region’s newest e-grocery platform, has announced that it has officially launched in the Kuwait market, with its app now available on all Apple iPhones and Samsung Android devices.

An innovative homegrown concept, Raha is the Middle East’s first pure-play, fully automated e-grocery platform - offering a full range of groceries, fresh produce, and household essentials. It also features Kuwait’s first fully automated robotics-fulfilment centre, and one of the first centres of the kind globally with a chilled warehouse capability.

Developed by global warehouse automation specialist, Swisslog, the centre serves as the core foundation of Raha’s technology-driven operational model and fully automated, data-driven intralogistics system – featuring the AutoStore solution; an innovative automated material handling solution that uses robots on top of an aluminium grid system to store and locate goods, efficiently delivering them to pick stations for processing.

Conceived as a digital operation first and foremost, Raha is making a huge investment in its technological infrastructure and completely self-serving operational model, including the robot-led fulfilment team and in-house preparation of all fresh items.

Raha’s easy-to-navigate smart platform leverages users’ data and insights to provide a personalized customer journey unlike any other in the market, with made-to-order items, easy step-by-step customization, tailored recipes, and an impressively wide range of varieties across all product segments.

According to the Co-Founder and CEO of the company, Saleh Al-Tunaib, Raha’s investment in technology and innovation did not come as an added value extension of the business, but rather has been the driving notion at the heart of its conception and service model from the very beginning. “From the outset, the goal was to develop a pure-play digital retail operation that combined operational excellence with a simplified, intelligent user experience.

Every step of the customer journey – from first log-in to final order delivery – has been carefully designed to deliver maximum convenience. We wanted to translate and elevate the traditional grocery experience at its absolute best to a seamless digital experience,” said Al-Tunaib.

Raha’s heavy investment in the infrastructure of both its software and product technology built a self-serving operational model that is now Kuwait’s first robotic fulfilment centre.

Concurrently, Raha successfully launched a fully-automated chilled fulfilment centre - making it one of the first of its kind globally. This achievement introduces to the entire region the emerging trend of intralogistics, which is proving to shape the future of the eCommerce industry worldwide.

With a core commitment to hit quality and freshness benchmarks across every order, Raha employs a completely temperature-controlled and precise process. The full cycle of logistics - from procurement to last-mile delivery - is systematic and precisely controlled. Dedicated areas for the in-house preparation of meats, poultry, fish, and deli items offer consumers unparalleled freshness when coupled with Raha’s unique indoor dispatch area.

Their trained fleet carries out the last-mile delivery that is route-optimized and time-efficient to complete the full cycle, seamlessly inserting Raha’s redefined grocery experience into the online commerce space that users are increasingly migrating to today. Additionally, Raha offers a nutritionally categorized assortment to fit all lifestyles and a unique feature in the form of Raha Recipes: a one-click add-to-cart recipes component, with recipes produced in-house using only items available in the app.

"Delivering this next level, seamless modern grocery delivery experience is credited also to Swisslog's adept implementation of AutoStore that propelled us past the traditional warehousing and fulfilment systems currently present in our landscape,” added Al-Tunaib.

On his part, David Dronfield, General Manager of Swisslog Middle East, noted: “The micro-fulfilment centre designed for Raha is the first automated micro-fulfilment centre (MFC) implemented in Kuwait, with a system designed in such a way that order capacity per day can be effectively doubled through the ease of expansion our solution provides.”

Customers are offered unparalleled flexibility and convenience by building a system that not only caters to both chilled and ambient products but that is designed to execute both express and scheduled delivery.

Evidently, the pandemic present at the time of the envisage and conceptualization of the partnership played a role in the final desired outcomes and vision.

Though Kuwait was under lockdown, a tremendous work ethic and solid collaboration between Swisslog and Raha made possible the timely and successful implementation of the system, overcoming the pandemic barriers through our joint efforts.

It serves to note that Raha was created and designed by a diverse team of driven young talents, who bring with them wide-ranging expertise and experience in the fields of grocery retail, e-commerce and tech development in the region.

The company has completed its seed round of funding, with an impressive capital of USD 6.7 million raised by Saudi and Kuwaiti backers, as well as international VCs.

source: Wamda

Egypt-based fintech Khazna, has raised a Series A round of $38 million in equity and debt, with the equity investment led by Quona Capital with the participation of Speedinvest, Nclude, Khawarizmi Ventures, Algebra Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, Disruptech, AB Accelerator by Arab Bank, and CVentures, among others. The debt financing was provided by Lendable.

Launched in 2020 by Omar Saleh, Ahmed Wagueeh, Fatimah El Shenawy, and Omar Salah, Khazna aims to serve underbanked Egyptians who have little access to formal financial services, including general-purpose credit, buy now pay later (BNPL), and bill payment.

The new round will allow Khazna to ramp up its efforts to replace informal cash-driven alternatives across Egypt.

Press release:

Khazna, a Cairo-based financial Super App that offers easy to use, technology-driven financial services to Egypt’s underserved consumers and micro-businesses, announced today it has raised a Series A round of $38 million in equity and debt, with the equity investment led by impact investor Quona Capital with the participation of Speedinvest, Nclude, Khawarizmi Ventures, Algebra Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, Disruptech, AB Accelerator by Arab Bank, and CVentures, among others. The company’s debt financing is provided by Lendable, while the Arab Bank Egypt is the Security Agent facilitating the transaction. The round comes as Khazna ramps up its efforts to replace informal cash-driven alternatives across Egypt, pairing a digital native solution with an innovative business model.

Khazna’s super app caters to 50% of Egyptians who are active smartphone users and lack access to formal financial services. Khazna currently offers General Purpose Credit, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and Bill Payment. The company’s vision is to digitise cash transactions across Egypt, in response to the Central Bank of Egypt’s recent push for financial inclusion and a “less-cash” framework.

Khazna launched in 2020 with an Earned Wage Access product that has since grown into the multi-product offering available today. Khazna’s leadership team is composed of former executives from World Remit, Valeo, Uber, CIB, Jumia, Match Group, and Arqaam Capital.

“The unprecedented evolution of Egypt’s nascent fintech industry is a testament to the significant efforts by the Central Bank of Egypt towards financial inclusion and a less-cash society. We are aligned with CBE’s vision and Khazna at its core believes that world-class financial services should be available to all. We are combining cutting-edge technology and relentless user obsession to build the best experience for our users,” said Omar Saleh, Khazna’s co-founder and CEO. “We continue to experience exponential growth in network effects created by our 150k+ active users, our partners, and Egypt’s largest merchants.”

Khazna represents Quona Capital’s second investment in Egypt. “In just two years, Khazna has scaled and monetised quickly and is already a market leader in the push for financial inclusion for the 35 million underbanked in Egypt,” said Monica Brand Engel, co-founder and Managing Partner at Quona. “Empowering consumers and micro-businesses with Khazna’s convenient, user-centric, and the transparent financial super app can enable millions across Egypt to gain greater control over their financial lives. Quona is incredibly excited about Khazna’s roadmap to be the category-leading digital super app for inclusive finance in Egypt.”

“We have been following the Khazna team since its launch in Egypt and have seen the business gain clear traction resulting in a fast scaling product offering,” said Suresh Samuel, Lendable's Deputy Chief Investment Officer. “As Lendable continues to grow our presence providing scalable debt financing to fintech in Egypt, we are excited to support Khazna’s work in providing increased access to financial services for the underserved in Egypt.”

Arab Bank has been appointed as the Security Agent to enable Khazna’s debt facility from Lendable. “Supporting Khazna was a natural step for Arab Bank as a strategic investor to facilitate the company’s growth,” said Ahmed Ismail Hassan, Country Manager at Arab Bank – Egypt.

Khazna has raised a total of $47 million since the company’s inception.

source: Wamda