Cartona, an Egyptian B2B ecommerce platform, has closed a $12 million Series A round led by Silicon Badia, a venture capital firm that invests in global technology entrepreneurs, with the active participation of the SANAD Fund for MSME, an impact investment fund dedicated to assisting entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab Bank Accelerator and Sunny Side Ventures joined previous investors Global Ventures and Kepple Ventures.
“We are delighted to complete our Series A fundraise. The market context for Cartona is hugely attractive, and we are just getting started. Egypt has hundreds of thousands of mom-and-pop stores who are core to our business model. We will continue empowering them via efficient and seamless solutions in their trade and financial cycle with FMCG companies and wholesalers, aligning with our mission to help people better manage and control their businesses,” Mahmoud Talaat, CEO and co-founder of Cartona, said.
The proceeds will be utilised to accelerate Cartona’s expansion across Egypt, covering all governorates, expanding its product, technology, and services, and exploring new verticals outside of FMCG.
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Why The Investors Invested
Cartona’s Egyptian market prospect is attractive. The total retail market is about $120 billion, with the Food and Beverage market around $70 billion. Egypt has over 400K shops and thousands of international and local brands, with the sector developing at an annual rate of 8%.
Mahmoud Talaat, CEO and co-founder of Cartona
“We are thrilled to partner with the Cartona team to help them continue to disrupt the $120Bn Egyptian retail market through its B2B technology platform and embedded financial service offerings. The market is hungry for these type of solutions and we believe Cartona’s asset-light approach will allow them to serve as many marketplace participants as possible in a highly efficient manner,” Namek T. Zu’bi, Founding Managing Partner at Silicon Badia, said.
“We are incredibly proud of this transaction as it is the first investment of SANAD ESF II in Egypt, continuing the success of ESF I investments made in the country. By providing both financing and a software tailored to the market, Cartona’s digital platform is supporting innovative MSME retailers across Egypt, which will greatly contribute to SANAD’s mission of pursuing growth and employment creation across the region,” Dr. Daniela Beckmann, SANAD Board Chairperson added.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Cartona, which was founded in 2019, is digitising Egypt’s conventional commerce market, which includes mom-and-pop retailers, FMCG makers, wholesalers, and distributors. The startup is committed to the idea of a cashless future, investing in embedded finance, payments, and operational integration with all stakeholders. This provides merchants and suppliers with an integrated solution that increases financial inclusion and allows them to run and expand their businesses more efficiently while also reaching end-consumers with vital products at affordable costs.
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Cartona’s business model is asset-light, as it does not own a single product, warehouse, or vehicle. This enables Cartona to carry out its plan of digitising Egypt’s conventional, primarily offline commerce industry by removing inefficiencies along the supply chain and providing seamless financial services to an underserved network of hundreds of thousands of merchants.
Cartona B2B ecommerce Cartona B2B ecommerce
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh