Appetito, a Cairo-based Dark Store Grocery Delivery startup, has raised $2 million in its latest fundraising round. Jedar Capital, a US-based early-stage VC focused on MENA and Emerging Asia, led the Pre-Series A round, with participation from Golden Palm Investments, DFS Lab, and a group of prominent angel investors and family offices, some of whom had previously invested in similar grocery startups such as Jiffy in the United Kingdom and Chaldal in Bangladesh. The startup had previously received about $500k in a seed round in April.
“The grocery retail market size in Egypt is valued at $60 Billion. The fact that 2% of it is currently online, creates a massive opportunity for growth betting on the younger generations as 50% of the Egyptian population are below the age of 25 years,” Founder and CEO Shehab Mokhtar said.
Why The Investors Invested
“I am happy Jedar Capital is leading the current round after participating in Appetito’s previous Seed round. In the past 12 months, I was amazed by how Shehab managed to build an A-plus team and created a great company culture that pushed Appetito the past 12 months to grow significantly more than 10X in terms of number of orders and revenue. Quick commerce/fast grocery delivery business model has been gaining grounds regionally and globally and I look forward for Appetito’s next phase as they expand to cover more areas in Egypt and start planning for regional growth.” — Sherif Nessim, General Partner at Jedar Capital
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“As the global trend toward contactless, instant, and personalized consumer goods continues to accelerate, Appetito is providing the Egyptian market with a differentiated grocery e-commerce service. Shehab and team are the first digital grocery service to utilize the “dark” store model for hyper-local delivery directly to consumer doorsteps. Golden Palm is thrilled to support Appetito’s innovative approach to owning the supply chain and guaranteeing item availability for consumers.” — AJ Okereke, Partner at Golden Palm
A Look At What The Startup Does
Appetito, which launched in March 2020, uses a dark store model, in which goods are purchased from suppliers, processed in mini fulfillment centers, and then shipped to consumers. The company began with a wide variety of private label goods, delivering to all areas of Cairo, Giza, and Alexandria the next day and on time.
The company recently extended its product range to include over 1000 SKUs from well-known market brands and joined the hyper convenience race by offering customers delivery in under 60 minutes in select areas.
In Cairo, the company now has seven dark stores and wants to expand to 150 by 2024.
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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.
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