ShipBlu, the platform that is revolutionizing ecommerce shipping and fulfillment in Egypt, has been accepted into Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 Batch and has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Seed funding round led by Nama Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and other prominent angel investors from San Francisco, CA and Saudi Arabia.
“People are excited about shopping online in Egypt because it’s effortless and convenient. Unfortunately, a lot of times the delivery experience really puts people off. Some of it is due to a lack of infrastructure, some of it is due to poor resource management. At ShipBlu, we’ve solved both parts of that problem. We promise to deliver a shipping experience that customers will look forward to so that merchants can stay focused on what matters, and customers can continue to enjoy online shopping,” says Ali Nasser, CEO of ShipBlu
Why The Investor Invested
Investment into ShipBlu is the first in an Egyptian startup by Nama Ventures, which has been investing in pre-seed / seed stage startups in the MENA region, particularly in Saudi Arabia. However, this is not Nama Ventures’ first investment in an African startup as the venture capital firm had previously invested in Termii, a Nigerian communications platform-as-a-service startup. Investment in Termii was for the startup’s recent $1.4m seed funding round.
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“We are super proud to have ShipBlu be our first investment in Egypt”. says Mohammed Alzubi, Managing Partner of Nama Ventures. “We have really enjoyed getting to know the founders and seeing their passion to disrupt the e-commerce shipping experience. The team is unparalleled to address this opportunity. We are witnessing first-hand what a well-rounded team with complementary skillsets can do in a very short time. Riding with Ali, Ahmed and Abdelrahman on the ShipBlu spaceship has already been exciting, but we can’t wait to see what the future holds together.”
A Look At What The Startup Does
Ali Nasser, Abdelrahman Hosny, and Ahmed El Kawass founded ShipBlu in October 2020. Ali, the CEO, has a background in investment banking, having previously worked at Citi in New York City. He returned to Egypt in 2018 and became acutely aware of the region’s last-mile delivery issues. Ahmed, the COO, has worked in supply chain and advertising before, at Nestle and Reckitt Benckiser, and most recently at 77 Media in Saudi Arabia, where he led the communications department.
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Abdelrahman has a background in computer science and is presently doing his PhD at Brown University in the United States, where he is researching the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in combinatorial optimisation. In 2020, the three entrepreneurs joined forces and launched ShipBlu, with the goal of redefining the shipping experience in Egypt for thousands of merchants and millions of daily online shoppers.
ShipBlu is designed to provide a one-of-a-kind e-commerce shipping experience. ShipBlu uses its fleets to deliver packages on time, every time, guaranteed, thanks to its own artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. Customers may choose their chosen three-hour delivery window and track couriers in real time as they approach their destinations using ShipBlu, ensuring complete shipping transparency. ShipBlu also offers e-commerce fulfillment services, based on its last-mile technology, with fulfillment centers planned around Egypt.
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Integrating fulfillment services with its last-mile operations gives merchants and customers a unique and seamless experience.
ShipBlu ecommerce ShipBlu ecommerce ShipBlu ecommerce
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