Gahez, an Egypt-based ecommerce business and B2B fashion platform, has raised $2 million in its newest round of funding. Disruptech Ventures led the pre-Seed round, which included Egypt Ventures, Tanmeyah (an EFG Hermes business), Afropreneur Fund, and other strategic angel investors.
“We are on a mission to revolutionise the way retailers shop for their stores by relieving the stress of managing and sourcing. We believe that the Egyptian/African apparel market is untapped and widely fragmented, which provides Gahez with the perfect opportunity (relying on technology) to scale and position itself within the sphere. The market size of apparel in Egypt amounts to $24 billion rendering the market potential infinite. Alongside, Egypt’s exports around $2 billion worth of apparel mostly to the US and EU markets, there’s a huge potential for growth in the African markets, and this can happen rapidly only through the digital world,” Gahez co-founder/CEO Wael Olama said.
Why The Investors Invested
Investors were attracted largely because of the traction the startup has garnered. Gahez has grown its footprint to 16 governorates across Egypt since its launch in 2021, onboarding over 15,000 retailers, 142 manufacturers, and over 4,000 SKUs (Gahez’s SKU is a wholesale set of sizes and colors) onto their platform, with a focus on brick-and-mortar stores, online sellers, and street vendors.
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“We are excited to support Gahez’s business expansion plan through our board seat and strategic input. The team is paving the way to digitising the region’s fashion wholesale market. With this investment, I am certain that they will be able to fulfil their targeted milestones,” Mohamed Okasha, Disruptech Managing Partner said.
A Look At What Gahez Does
Gahez is an online marketplace that launched around the end of 2021 with the goal of transforming the wholesale distribution platform by expediting the process between merchants and producers, resulting in a better online trading cycle. Gahez has successfully unburdened fashion merchants from current procurement inefficiency and hurdles by using a data-driven approach that has facilitated their selection of items and sourcing possibilities. Gahez also offers credit to retailers, making the collection process easier while handling payment settlement with suppliers through third-party aggregators.
Manufacturers and brands now have direct access to thousands of traders, allowing them to increase their margins and attract new sorts of customers without having to worry about the logistics of their business. Gahez’s platform helps manufacturers and brands streamline their operations by delivering strong sales, marketing, and analytics capabilities, allowing them to focus on creating the appropriate goods and expanding their business.
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Gahez is tapping into the vast underserved market of street resellers by providing them with smaller ticket-size transactions, allowing them to expand their trading capabilities and increase their margins and variety. Gahez will accelerate its growth and geographical expansion within the region in response to significant demand from neighboring African countries. The Egypt-based firm will use its freshly raised capital in developing world-class technology and hiring top staff, allowing Gahez to serve all of its target client segments and expand in the future.
The startup was founded by Wael Olama and Mohamed El-Zahaby.
Gahez 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