Tech-enabled pharmaceutical distribution marketplace, i’SUPPLY, raised a total of $1.5 million in its pre-Seed round of funding. The pre-Seed round was led by Disruptech Ventures and included participation from other investors as well. i’SUPPLY’s goal is to connect pharma businesses with small and medium wholesalers and pharmacies for the purpose of financing.
“With an initial launch late in 2021, i’SUPPLY aims to transform the medicine wholesale distribution in the MENA region and Africa by focusing on supporting and empowering the mid and small-sized wholesalers and pharmacies,” said Ibrahim Emam, CEO of i’SUPPLY.
i’SUPPLY has big plans for its operations using the funds, and they include expanding their business not just across the country but also into other nations in the Middle East and Africa area.
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Why The Investors Invested
i’SUPPLY has seen exponential success and hyper growth in just four months since its launch, reaching $2 million in gross merchandise volume (GMV), delivering 50 thousand or more sales orders from one hundred or more wholesalers covering ten thousand or more stock keeping units (SKUs), and having five thousand pharmacies onboarded in Greater Cairo during this brief period of time. These achievements demonstrate our firm understanding of the market as well as our extensive expertise and capabilities in the pharmaceutical distribution sector.
Moreover, the strategic focus of i’SUPPLY is in line with Egypt’s move forward with digital transformation strategies across the board. According to a report titled The Potential Impact of AI in the Middle and published by PWC, Egypt plans to allocate 7.7% of its GDP derived through artificial intelligence by the year 2030. This information was found in the report. i’SUPPLY is looking to allocate 7.7% of its GDP.
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Malek Sultan, Disruptech’s Co-Founder & Partner, said:
“We at Disruptech are very excited to be part of iSupply’s journey, we always stand by and back strong founders like Ibrahim & iSupply’s founding team. We believe that Ibrahim and his team will create real positive disruption in the industry.”
Additionally, the founders have a significant amount of prior expertise in the sector. Emam is eager to deliver the value and game-changing features that the platform promises as it seamlessly connects different parts of the supply chain. He has accumulated 20 years of experience in formulating, shaping, and leading business and commercial strategies in his role as Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer at a leading pharmaceutical distribution company in Egypt. Using this experience, Emam is keen on delivering the platform’s promises.
A Look At What The Startup Does
i’SUPPLY was established in 2021 by Ibrahim Emam, Malek Sultan, and Moustafa Zaki, and its mission is to re-engineer the pharmaceutical industry by integrating technological solutions at all stages of the supply chain. According to the company’s mission statement, “The company is building a reliable and integrated network which enhances and augments traditional brick and mortar platforms with data-driven disruptive sales, distribution, and procurement solutions that optimise the procurement processes and provide a one-stop-shop solution,”
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The technology that underpins i’SUPPLY was developed with the many stakeholders in mind, with the goal of providing each of them with a streamlined experience through the use of sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms.
“At i’SUPPLY, we remain focused on adopting the latest and most advanced technologies while responding to dynamic business requirements in the most agile, consistent, and structured manner. The goal of our technical team is to provide our users with the most personalized experience possible using AI engines backed by data sources fully integrated with all systems in the market,” Moustafa Zaki, i’SUPPLY’s Chief Technology Officer, said.
i’SUPPLY intends to cover the entirety of Egypt over the course of the next year, with a particular focus on the country’s 60K pharmacies. i’SUPPLY also intends to start offering distribution and finance services in the near future. In addition, i’SUPPLY is making preparations to extend its geographical presence to include Africa and the MENA Region.
pharmaceutical i’SUPPLY
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