Cairo-based direct-selling and distribution platform, Brimore, has closed its series A funding round, raising US$25m.
The company said it would use the funds raised to expand its logistics and operational infrastructure. The start-up added that it would also double its staff size, triple product catalogues, and increase its sellers and suppliers network.
The series A funding round was led by The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Endure Capital. Further participations were done by fintech giant – Fawry, Flourish, and, Endeavor Catalyst Fund.
Existing investors that also participated in the fundraise include Algebra Ventures, Disruptech and Vision Ventures.
Brimore was founded in 2017 by the duo of Mohamed Abdulaziz and Ahmed Sheikha. Both co-founders had noticed the difficulties experienced by emerging brands to get their products to the mass market.
They also took a cue from the travail of individuals who want to be involved in remote trading, but doesn’t know how to go about it.
Brimore works by bridging the gap between sellers and buyers through an app that serves as its multi-channel e-commerce platform.
“Small and medium-sized suppliers could give these individuals–who double as sellers and word-of-mouth marketers–access to these emerging products. This way, these manufacturers have advertising and marketing on lock while these sellers start their e-commerce businesses and earn extra cash,” TechCrunch reports.
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In an interview with TechCrunch, CEO Abdulaziz gave an explanation on the motive behind Brimore:
“We started working on Brimore with the mindset of actually manufacturing products ourselves. However, producing our products wasn’t the wisest decision at that time as it was a very asset-heavy model. So we started scaling with listing different products. And at the same time, it was very insightful to see how the network formed on the other side. From a seller perspective, we started onboarding more and more sellers. Most of them happen to be women.”
Before now, Brimore had raised $800k and $3.5m in seed funding and pre-series A funding rounds, respectively.