The supply-chain and operational challenges of players in the fast- moving consumer goods industry are solved by startups that help buyers access products from sellers on a single platform.
A major player in the traditional trade market has raised $12 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Jordan and U.S.-based early-stage venture capital firm Silicon Badia.
Less than a year after participating in the company's pre-Series A funding, investors such as GlobalVentures and KeppleVentures doubled down. It was present in three Egyptian cities. The investment will allow the startup to cover all of Egypt's governorates, grow its product, technology, and services, and explore new areas.
We believe that with this money, we would make a profit. Money will be used for sustainable growth and only sustainable growth. The CEO of the company said in an interview that they wouldn't expand like crazy if they didn't have positive unit economics. We want to focus on technology and product in Egypt.
Buyers can order inventory from a network ofcurated sellers through an app that provides a communication tool for promotions and a dashboard for market insights.
There is an asset-light marketplace where the company does not own a single product. Customer complaints have been made on both sides of the platform. In order to create more upside for the business, Cartona had to focus more on its technical integrations with large manufacturers and their warehouses. He said the integrations would allow Cartona to pursue capital efficiency and growth at the same time.
The sweet spot of B2B e-commerce and retail marketplaces in Africa is providing loans, working capital, or a combination of the two. How they give this service is different. In Egypt, a market with other upstarts such as asset-heavy MaxAB or hybrid model Capiter, Cartona stands out by integrating BNPL services into its marketplace processes without the help of a third party. Instead of getting small businesses to pay their loans each month with interest, Cartona allows them to repay them every time there is a product shipment.
Retailers in Egypt don't like the idea of paying for a product with interest at the end of the month. You don't want to think you're paying more interest with an external company It's a part of the product prices and they like to feel it in the order cycle. "Talaat said something."
For now, Cartona takes out its balance sheet. Credit lines and venture debt from local and international partners are expected by January next year, according to the executives.
The image is called Cartona.
Over 400,000 shops and thousands of international and local brands exist in Egypt. The food and beverages market is worth $70 billion according to reports. Silicon Badia is an investor in the B2B retail sector. According to the firm's founding managing partner, "the market is hungry for these type of solutions, and we believe Cartona's asset-light approach will allow them to serve as many marketplace participants as possible."
The company had 30,000+ merchants and processed over 400,000 orders with an annual gross merchandise value of EGP 1 billion. Since that time, it has doubled some of its numbers. The company now serves 60,000 merchants and processes over 1 million transactions with an annual gross merchandise value of over one billion dollars. There are more than 1,500 distributors and wholesalers on the platform. The numbers of distributors, wholesalers, and companies have gone up.
They want to build a better technology partner for these brands. The executive in charge of these integrations said, "We started with very big brands, but everyone is interested because now they see our value." We aren't trying to bring down their prices. Competition sometimes subsidizes their products, but we aren't. Making the process seamless is what we are trying to accomplish.
Cartona gets $4.5M pre-Series A to connect retailers with suppliers in Egypt
MaxAB, the Egyptian B2B food and grocery delivery startup, raises $40M for expansion
Egyptian startup Capiter raises $33M to expand B2B e-commerce platform across MENA
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