Nabilah Safira
TechInAfrica – MaxAB, the Cairo-based B2B e-commerce marketplace, has announced its $6.2 M seed round, which was co-led by Beco Capital, 4Dx Ventures, and Endure Capital with the participation of 500 Startups, Outlierz Ventures, and other unnamed local investors. MaxAB was founded in 2018 by CEO Belal El-Megharbel and Mohamed Ben Halim, a marketplace that connects informal food and grocery retailers with suppliers via its Android app.
It’s now planning to cover expansion to other North African countries within next year, with an established team of 270 people and stocks of more than 600 stock products, and 9000 activated retailers on its platform with a 50% recorded month-to-month growth. About 40,000 shipments have been concluded since its launch. The app allows access for retailers in remote and underserved areas to a wide variety of products and provides them with the convenience of online stock ordering in addition to second-day deliveries, and also the added benefit of access to credit facilities. Brands can access the real-time demand monitoring and business intelligence tools that improve end-to-end supply chain control, and thus, better forecasting. MaxAB uses tech to simplify the $45 B fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) food retail market. According to El-Megharbel, MaxAB uses data and data analytics to understand the purchasing and retail behaviors, as well as make the end-to-end process of brands ‘seamless and convenient’.
“This will enable FMCGs to make informed decisions about their purchasing, which will ultimately have a positive effect on their bottom line and catalyze one of the biggest markets in Egypt,” El-Megharbel added.
The round was closed this week, and El-Megharbel sees the round as a stepping stone for MaxAB on accelerating its growth plans and to develop new products and services across Egypt’s remote and under-served areas throughout North Africa, as it will help the company to reach half of Egypt’s 97 M population within the next 2 years. The deal could be the second biggest disclosed venture capital deal involving an Egyptian startup announced this year. In June, Egyptian transport startup Swvl had raised $42-million round.
Source: Ventureburn.com
