Epicerie Verte, a Casablanca-based digital marketplace specializing in allowing producers to sell their local organic products online has raised $748k from Azur Innovation Fund. Amine SLIMANI, Founder and Managing Director, said the funds raised from Azur Innovation Fund “will enable Epicerie Verte to accelerate its growth both in Morocco and internationally.”
With its fundraising, the young company also intends to recruit and attack the European market to promote organic “Made in Morocco”.
Why The Investor Invested
There are many reasons why the investor preferred to invest in Epicerie Verte, one of which is its product offering which fulfils the green investment mandate of the investor. The investor was also drawn in by the traction the startup has garnered since its three-year journey. On the marketplace today, there are nearly 90 sellers (cooperatives, manufacturers, farmers, and so on) and over 2,500 product references. “The start-up intends to further expand its range to increase to 20,000 references within 3 years,” Slimani said.
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In 2020, Azur Innovation Management, a subsidiary of Azur Partners launched a $35 million Innovation Fund to invest in Moroccan startups. The public-private fund targets Moroccan companies with less than 18 months of activity, “having a proven innovative product / service concept with successful marketing.”
With a lifespan of 10 years, and an investment period of 5 years (extendable by one year), the fund targets innovative Moroccan startups. The Fund focuses on the renewable energy sectors, Morocco’s global businesses, service platforms and new technologies. The average investment ticket is around $500k (excluding follow-on).
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The Azur Innovation Fund seed fund was created as part of the Innov Invest initiative.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Founded in 2017, Epicerie Verte is a 100% online marketplace specializing in organic products. It is an online store where farmers, producers and other sellers of organic products can market their goods. Its objective is to create a point of intersection between strong demand from customers for local organic products and a growing offer that cannot easily find a distribution channel.
According to Amine Slimani, CEO of Epicerie Verte, the startup plays a big role in the democratization of products from organic farming.
“We realized that there was a very interesting offer in Morocco for organic products. However, these sellers found it difficult to access a market because there are very few outlets where they can properly display their products. For everything that is selling online it is also quite complicated to manage directly for the sellers. So we come to play this role of connecting buyers and sellers,” he said.
More Than Just Ecommerce
Beyond a simple connection between supply and demand, Epicerie Verte also handles the marketing, logistics and accounting part for sellers who wish to sell on the platform.
“It ranges from taking photos to communicating on social media and promoting on the Epicerie Verte website. Globally, we try to promote the products of our sellers on the different communication channels. We can also highlight them on newsletters personalized to customer preferences. We also promote through various influencers,” Slimani said.
The platform is remunerated by taking commissions on sales made by sellers.
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“For sellers, we don’t charge one-by-one services; we charge one-off commission on sales made on the platform. This commission only occurs if the seller makes a sale on the site. If for one reason or another, a listed seller does not make any sale, nothing is billed to him,” he said.
The company also handles both distribution and customer support.
Traceability assurance
Before you can sell your products on Epicerie Verte, you have to show a guarantee of traceability. Sellers can apply to sell their products, but the startup is investigating to accept or reject applications based on the traceability checks performed.
“We do a consistency check. If a seller has three hectares of land and has production in tonnes, then we know there is a problem somewhere. We make sure that they meet a certain number of criteria, especially if they are within the scope of the products we offer, their certifications, etc. We also carry out quality controls on site by visiting the operators. If you find the mention bio somewhere on our site, there is a certificate behind it,” Slimani said.
But the startup will also seek out cooperatives and less mature organic artisans for sale online to offer the services of its marketplace.
“There are two categories of sellers, those who are used to selling online, but on the other hand, cooperatives and artisans do not instinctively orient themselves towards offers like ours,” he said.
Optimization Of Logistics For Rapid Delivery
Like any marketplace, the startup must also manage the logistics aspect, which is crucial to its activity. Favoring short circuits, the young company ensures deliveries on the day the order is placed in Casablanca and within a maximum of three working days in the rest of Morocco. For this, the startup uses its sales statistics to optimize its supplies of goods from its sellers.
“We have a warehouse in Aïn Sebaa, managed by a logistics provider and we ask the sellers to send us a minimum of stock at our warehouse,” he said.
The startup ensures the selection of sellers based on quality criteria and product certification.
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