Grace Ashiru
Nama Ventures has given Pre-SEED funding to Muqbis, a market in Egypt. Marquis, which Iman El Wasifi, Mohamed Nasser, and Kareem Hussein started in 2021, is a full-fledged marketplace for the Handicrafts industry.
This year has been great for Egypt’s ecosystem, which has raised more than $500 million in funding. Regarding the number of deals, the Egyptian E-commerce space took over the lion’s share with more than 20%.
There have been significant investments in E-commerce solutions, like $55 million in MaxAB and $33 million in Capital. In terms of deals, Egypt has always witnessed a solid volume of Early-Stage deals backed by the likes of Flat6Labs and Cairo Angels. This year, the share of $1M-$5M sales has increased to over 50%, while funding has also increased.
The startup says that Muqbis’s competitive edge comes from the fact that there is little human interaction, while the product roadmap is based on a full understanding of the unique nature and challenges of this market.
Through Muqbis, the whole team took responsibility not only by helping crafters grow and selling more products, but also by supporting this unique industry and preserving cultural heritage by using the latest technologies to bring it more attention and growth it deserved.
Iman, the CEO of Muqbis, said, “We are thrilled to be one of Nama’s Portfolio companies in our first round. Nama is a great VC that really believes in what we do and what we want to do. Even before we signed the final agreement for the investment, they helped us grow our business in every way possible by making suggestions and putting us in touch with other businesses.
We believe Muqbis’ next phase will be game-changing. We have demonstrated a remarkable market footprint in our MVP phase over the past few months, but it is time for a greater impact that is specifically tailored for the industry because we believe in Talented Hands and will use all available means to deliver their uniqueness to customers’ doorsteps in a world-class experience.
Despite the Pandemic’s barriers to growth, Egypt’s handcrafts market is only about 22 billion Egyptian pounds.
Muqbis wants to be the umbrella for talented hands, especially women, in the Egyptian and Middle East and Africa (MEA) markets. It does this by providing them with a fair market place where they can sell their products, learn how to use the power of eCommerce to make a fair living, and get their products out into the local and international market.
Yet, it was hard for us to find the right team to pursue the opportunity, said Mohammed Alzubi, the founder and managing partner of Nama Venturers.
The wait is ended; Iman, Mohamed, and Karim are the epitome of a complementing trio with clear roles to take on this exciting assignment.
We are thrilled that the very talented Muqbis team chose NamaVentures as their funding partner, and we look forward to returning the favor by delivering the value we promised with our investment.
