Looking for a time when fashion ecommerce would be stealing the show? Look no further than now. North Africa, not just Egypt, is experiencing some new excitement, by way of renewed investor’s interests, in its fashion industry. From Tunisia’s Dabchy to Egypt’s La Reina, investors seem to have seen a great future around digital fashion shops and are taking some time out to slug it out among themselves in order to position for this future. Joining the league of investments in this regard is the latest one in Brantu, a Cairo-based fashion ecommerce platform which has announced it has raised more than $1m in Series A round of funding from leading VCs, including Sawari Ventures. Sawari Ventures, by this investment, joins other big names such as 500 Startups, Algebra Ventures, Flat6Labs, Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), Khobar-based Vision Ventures and Daal, in investing in North Africa’s fashion ecommerce.
“At the heart of Brantu’s vision is to create a convenient and seamless fashion sales experience for the buyers and fashion brands. Brantu debuted with a women’s assortment, offering fresh and trendy apparel via a mobile-first platform with exciting and appealing content, speedy delivery, and free returns. Brantu also offers fashion brands various operational models, to simplify the onboarding process,” Brantu noted in a statement.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- Although the exact size of this investment was not disclosed, the funding is in excess of $1m.
- The startup plans to use the latest investment to further grow its userbase, add more verticals to its platform, and increase its market share within the growing fashion and lifestyle industry in Egypt.
Why The Investors Invested
According to Wael Amin, a Partner at Sawari Ventures, commenting on the occasion:
“Brantu is easily the best example of the tremendous acceleration in digital adoption that we have witnessed across all sectors during the pandemic. We have full faith in the ability of Brantu’s management team to take the company to market leadership.”
Brantu $1m funding Brantu $1m funding
Read also: Egyptian Online Fashion Startup La Reina Secures Six-Figure Seed funding
A Look At What The Startup Does
Originally founded in 2018, as Elprices by Mohamed Rizk and Fredrik Granström, Brantu, officially launched in 2019 after Elprices’ failure and enables customers all over Egypt to buy products including clothing, shoes, bags, and accessories from local and global fashion brands. The platform currently features products for women only.
“Before Brantu, fashion consumers bought through international/cross-border websites, facing the issues of long delivery times & customs or local general merchandise platforms whose assortment and appeal do not cater to fashion consumers. We are providing speedy delivery, trendy products & appealing content to Egypt’s mass population, serving millions of fashion shoppers,” said Mohamed Rizk, co-founder of Brantu.
The startup claims to have acquired over 20,000 users within its first year of operations.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer