Egyptian B2B e-commerce and distribution platform, MaxAB, has raised $40 million in its pre-series B funding round.
MaxAB said there are about 750,000 businesses that requires its services in Morocco and Egypt alone. With this, the startup, which connects food and grocery retailers to suppliers in the North African countries of Egypt and Morocco, said it will use the funds to push its expansion across the MENAP region.
MaxAB also plans to extend its services to Saudi Arabia, and this was born out of the Saudi government’s drive to digitise the informal sector and the FMCG’s willingness to explore new business models.
The round of investment had participations from investment firms firms which include Silver Lake, British International Investment (BII), and DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture platform. The round also includes participation from existing investors Beco Capital, 4DX Ventures, Flourish Ventures and Africa Platform Capital.
MaxAB was founded by Belal El-Megharbel, and Mohamed Ben Halim. The startup began operations in 2018, and has since served about 150,000 different traditional retailers, and completed 2.5 million orders.
The e-commerce startup currently has active operational presence in every Egyptian cities, as well as Casablanca in Morocco; with plans to expand across Morocco.
Speaking on the startup’s expansion plans, CEO and co-founder of MaxAB, Belal El-Megharbel, said:
“Within just four years of operations, we have been able to re-engineer the informal food and grocery market in Egypt and Morocco. We are thrilled to have gained the recognition and financial backing of world-class investors, adding to the reception and support we receive from the retailers and suppliers we serve. Going by the quality of investors who are partnering with us, we are excited about venturing into the next stage of the MaxAB journey, which is further consolidation of the informal grocery sector, heavy focus and investments in fintech, and replicating our success in new markets to grow beyond borders.”
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Amer Al Ameri, Head of Venture Capital and Technology investments at ADQ, also commented on the partnership with MaxAB, and noted that:
“MaxAB are building technology-driven products and services that solve challenges around better integrated, efficient, reliable grocery supply chains for the MENAP region. In digitizing the vastly traditional, multi-layered and fragmented food and grocery sector supply chain, they have broken the mould and presented a domino effect of opportunities, one of which is the launch of the fintech vertical. We are happy to be embarking on this journey with MaxAB and are looking forward to providing strategic guidance for continued growth and impact.”
MaxAB, which is currently thriving in it region of base, had raised $40 million in its series A funding round. If also went ahead to raise $190 million altogether, in 2021.