Dubai-based e-commerce platform Awok, which raised $30 million in funding last year has closed down. A statement from Awok said that it could not survive the current global situation and business environment.

“Awok's journey as a mass market e-commerce player has unfortunately come to an end, and the company has ceased operations.

“After seven incredible years of saving money for our customers by creating regional business and a platform for our suppliers and sellers, we are sad to inform you that given the current global situation it left the company no other choice than to close its platform for good,” a statement on the website said.

Grand ambitions

The company was launched in the UAE by CEO Ulugbek Yuldashev in 2013, expanded into Saudi Arabia in 2017, and cited plans to expand across the Middle East and Africa when it raised $30 million in April 2019.

Having started out selling electronics, Awok branched out to sell 300,000 products across 50 categories from phones, fashion accessories, home appliances, kitchenware, cameras and health and beauty products.

In 2019 it said in a press release that it operated a fleet of delivery trucks and had more than 700 employees.

The 2019 investment was the company’s first external funding round, and was led by StonePine ACE Partners out of its StonePine ACE Fund and Al Faisaliah Ventures, the newly created Corporate Ventures Capital arm of Al Faisaliah Group. The deal was co-invested in by Endeavor Catalyst.

The Awok statement continued: “The ambition of the company was to bring choice and affordability to everyone in the MENA region by building infrastructure and platforms to enable businesses, but this ambition did not survive the current business environment to come to fruition.”

(Writing by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Seban Scaria)

(imogen.lillywhite@refinitiv.com)

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