The e- commerce market in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt is expected to grow by more than 50% in the next three years, according to recent research. Online stores need to position themselves to take full advantage of the growing phenomenon of shoppers in the Middle East and North Africa.
Growth-destructive challenges emerging online stores face when trying to meet customer demands are being solved by FlapKap. The company, which allows e-commerce businesses to scale and grow by targeting businesses with limited bank or venture financing access, has raised over three million dollars in seed funding.
The founding team of FlapKap includes Ahmad Coucha and Khaled Nassef. The CEO of Kijamii noticed late payment and access to working capital issues while he was there. Most of Kijamii's clients always pay late, sometimes 30 to 120 days after a sale closes.
This should be the opposite, we thought to ourselves. Small and medium enterprises that are struggling for cash and growth should not be the ones that get super flexible payment terms from the agencies. The CEO said that these should get the support.
During his time in the U.S., Coucha saw the rise of revenue-based financing platforms like Clearco and Wayflyer. FlapKap was launched due to the idea of replicating a similar operation for MENA. Most revenue-based financing companies only serve revenue-based platforms, but the company has more clients on revenue-based platforms than on revenue-free ones.
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FlapKap has flexible payment terms that suit their business as they spend a lot on advertising, marketing and inventory, recurring activities that can cause them to make late payments or take loans. There is still growth in the Middle East, but it is not large. E-Commerce is booming in all parts of the world, but is underserved in the Middle East and Africa due to the lack of finance infrastructure.
When brands pay back a percentage of their revenues until repayment is complete, FlapKap is able to recover its money. FlapKap adds a fixed fee split to be paid in percentages from their revenues within a specific time period.
The revenue-based financing company for e-commerce platforms, which claims to be growing 300% quarter over quarter, has partnerships with tens of clients from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Dresscode and Palma are two of the ones that include. Within a few months, FlapKap claims to have helped generate over 70% increase in net profits for these customers.
According to a statement, FlapKap has recently integrated its artificial intelligence-based insights and financial data analytic with a number of online retailers. We give our partners other value-added services to help them go further. The chief executive stated that they are not just financing, but a growth partner. They want to grow. We have a work-in-progress model that we are building and getting better at.
The investors on board are strategic for FlapKap, and the capital injection comes six months after the pre-seed raise. Some of FlapKap's global counterparts have been invested in by QED. The firm used Bolt to complete the transaction. Nclude is backed by the Egyptian government. Coucha is excited to be building FlapKap with them. According to Coucha, they are real partners in what they are doing for us now and expected to do in the future.
With the new funding, FlapKap plans to increase its capacity to help more e- commerce businesses in the region scale and maximize their growth potential, as well as consolidate its position as the region's leading revenue based financing player. The company aims to solidify its presence in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt by offering e-commerce businesses the ability to scale their inventory and digital ads now, while paying later. The partner at QED commented on the investment, "We are confident this team can attain similar success, having invested and worked with similar companies to FlapKap across other regions."
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