MaxAB, an Egyptian B2B ecommerce platform that sells food and groceries, raised $40 million last month. It has now raised a $15million extension from existing investors RMBV and IFC, Flourish Ventures. This brings its total Series A fundraise up to $55 million.
Belal El-Megharbel founded the company in 2018 with Mohamed Ben Halim. They manage grocery delivery to Egyptian shops. The platform allows store owners to order goods, request delivery, or logistics to move them, and to access a customer service team.
TechCrunch spoke with CEO El-Megharbel during the first Series A tranche. He stated that MaxAB, which is based in Egypt, was looking to expand its operations across North Africa and the Middle East, as well as launching new products and expanding its staff.
MaxAB's first step towards regional scale is today's announcement. MaxAB has announced the acquisition of WaystoCap, a Moroccan-based B2B ecommerce platform and distribution platform for an undisclosed sum.
WaystoCap was founded by Niama El Bassunie, Mehdi Doui, Anis Abdeddine, and Aziz Jaouhari Tissafi. The company started as a cross-border platform for transacting business products in Africa. WaystoCap was accepted into the Y Combinators Winter batch 2017 as the first Moroccan company. The company raised $3 million in a seed round.
WaystoCap expanded its cross-border services into Togo and Ivory Coast. At one point, it was processing more than $3 million in transactions per quarter. WaystoCap, which connects Moroccan retailers and suppliers, has been able to pull out of both countries since it switched to MaxAB's model.
TechCrunch was informed by El-Megharbel that MaxABs plans to move into Morocco coincided With WaystoCaps bid for new funding. (The last time WaystoCaps took venture capital was 2017) and push further into Morocco. Both companies decided to cooperate rather than compete.
The team is amazing. He said that they share the same values, and that they are on the same mission to use a tech-enabled supply system to improve food distribution across Africa. Our strategy is to create a global team capable of thinking locally and executing properly. We found that they are a great fit for this.
The acquisition signals MaxABs move to Morocco. It also signifies the companys entry in the Maghreb markets Algerian, Libyan, Mauritania and Tunisia where there is little or no competition.
MaxAB claims that more than 70,000 retailers will benefit from MaxAB's technology, enhanced supply chain solutions and business insight tools.
MaxAB Morocco's managing director will be El Bassunie. She commented on the acquisition of her startup and said that she was thrilled to play a key role in the creation and leadership of an all-star team. This new team will be a regional leader in grocery and food supply. We look forward to continuing our good working relationship with the new team and moving the business into its next phase.
MaxAB's acquisition of WaystoCap positions it as the largest and most well-funded B2B ecommerce platform for suppliers and retailers in the Maghreb. The potential of Morocco's tech hub is immense. MaxAB will now be able to acquire WaystoCap, allowing it to grow into a truly global team that uses a targeted local approach. This will allow the company to be the most prominent B2B grocery and retail platform in the Middle East as well as Africa.
We want to build a tech-enabled supply network in all of Africa and the Middle East countries and then link them together. This is where magic happens. MaxAB CEO El-Meghabel stated that this is where you can really make a difference by putting the right food in the right place at right time and minimizing waste that MENA cannot afford.
MaxABs acquisition by WaystoCap marks the second cross-border local acquisition in Africa this week. Plentywaka, a Canadian-based mobility startup, announced Monday that it had acquired Stabus, the counterpart in Ghana. The undisclosed sum was paid by Plentywaka. Ajua, a Kenyan platform for consumer experience, purchased WayaWaya, a Kenyan AI and ML messaging company, in April.
WaystoCap is the second exit of a YC-backed company from Africa, following Paystack's purchase by Stripe for over $200 million in October.
