Moroccan Logistics Startup Cathedis Raises $735K In Pre-Series A Funding

Cathedis, a Moroccan start-up specialising in delivery and e-logistics, announces the completion of a new financing cycle: a “pre-series A” fundraising of 5 MDH from Afrimobility, a Venture Capital from AKWA Group, and a bridge of 2.5 MDH provided by CDG Invest, for a total of 7.5 MDH (USD 735,940).

According to a press statement from Cathedis, this is the second financing for the start-up founded in 2019, with the first taking place in 2020 for a sum of 3 MDH through CDG Invest’s 212 Founders programme.

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This second round of funding represents “a new significant turning point” for the startup, which has grown by more than 300% between 2020 and 2022 and has over 700 active clients.

Moroccan Ecommerce Startup Cathedis Now Present In 108 Cities, Plans  International Expansion
Imad El Mansour Zekri, Cathedis’ founder and CEO. Credits: Cathedis

“Afrimobility was persuaded to invest in Cathedis and assist its expansion plan due to its great performance, Moroccan-made innovation, strong potential, and ambitious development strategy. Our investment in this start-up is part of our vision and philosophy of supporting new and disruptive ventures capable of tackling tomorrow’s mobility’s significant challenges,” stated Moulay Hafid Amrani, CEO of Afrimobility, in a press release.

“The renewed confidence of our investor and historical partner CDG Invest, as well as the entry of the prestigious fund Afrimobility, will enable Cathedis to consolidate its performance, develop its innovation platform, and accelerate its growth,” stated Imad El Mansour Zekri, Cathedis’ founder and CEO.

“Four years after its inception, our start-up is one of Morocco’s reference operators of delivery and e-logistics, with the deployment of technological and industrial solutions conceived and installed entirely domestically,” he said. 

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Cathedis’ operations platform is entirely digital. 

“It is more than just a platform; it is a tool for deep transformation of delivery management. Everything can be tracked. The system provides a high level of agility to manage each operation, from the production of the delivery to the return of cash, even on a daily basis, via complaint handling, and this with real-time monitoring, even near instantaneous monitoring. The goal is to provide the finest possible user experience,” the company stated

Internal teams designed and deployed the automated sorting centre, which has a capacity of 4,000 parcels per hour. To attain higher results, the startup relies on Moroccan R&D. The goal for 2024 is a flow of 3 million shipments handled each year.

Cathedis logistics Cathedis logistics

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