Egypt: Quona and MSA invest in B2B e-commerce company
Capiter, a Cairo-based B2B e-commerce startup that brings together manufacturers, brands, wholesalers and retailers on one platform with access to financial services, has raised a $33 million series A round. Co-led by Quona Capital and MSA Capital alongside additional investors Savola, Shorooq Partners, Foundation Ventures, Accion Venture Lab and Derayah Ventures, the round comes as Capiter ramps up its efforts to expand its service across Egypt and the region within 2022.
Capiter provides a single platform that allows retailers to order a wide range of inventory, obtain delivery, and access financing. The Capiter solution also helps brands and manufacturers to gain critical insights into the markets they serve, enabling them to access real data to refine their distribution strategies and increase efficiencies.
Capiter was launched in July 2020 by serial entrepreneurs Mahmoud Nouh and Ahmed Nouh. Mahmoud was a co-founder and a former COO of Egyptian ride hailing unicorn Swvl. Ahmed brings a deep background as an entrepreneur in the shipping and logistics space.
Capiter represents Quona Capital’s first investment in Egypt. “Capiter’s embedded finance model, combined with its expertise and strong user engagement, can have a dramatic impact on the financial lives of SMEs, helping them optimise their income which helps communities to thrive,” said Monica Brand Engel, co-founder and managing partner at Quona Capital. “Quona’s investment in Capiter builds on our existing B2B e-commerce portfolio and growing presence in MENA. We look forward to helping Capiter on its journey to revolutionise the retail landscape in the region and provide a model for peers globally while increasing services for the underbanked.”
“SME supply chain inefficiencies are massive throughout the Middle East. We believe the key blocker is lack of working capital in the system. Capiter has built an asset-light way to aggregate retailers and suppliers and facilitate credit into the system, through a comprehensive multi-product offering such as commerce, credit financing, digital payments, book keeping and inventory management for SMEs, leveraging on the ecosystem built by the local banks and financial institutions,” said Ben Harburg, partner at MSA Capital, a global VC that has invested in fintechs like Nubank and Klarna.
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