PHOTO
Saudi Arabia-based B2B e-commerce platform Sary has acquired Egypt’s B2B marketplace, Mowarrid.
Sary, a leading marketplace that connects small businesses with wholesalers and brands through an application, said in a statement that the acquisition marks “a strategic move” towards its expansion in North Africa.
Both Sary and Mowarrid did not disclose the size of the deal.
Since its inception in 2018, Sary raised a total of $112 million, reached more than 350,000 customers and served over 40,000 businesses in 15 cities across Saudi Arabia, according to the statement.
“Egypt is a strategic market for us and has a huge synergy with the Saudi and GCC markets,” said Mohammed AlDossary, Co-Founder and CEO of Sary. “The industry has witnessed significant growth in the past years with very strong digitization in the wholesale and retail trade industry which accounted for around 15% of Egypt’s GDP.”
Egypt has the second-largest economy in Africa, and the third largest in the Arab world with a $60 billion wholesale and retail trade industry.
Founded in 2018, Mowarrid harnesses technology also to link wholesalers with food industries. With a run rate of $25 million, the Mowarrid platform has more than 10,000 retailers and over 1000 products.
“Since 2018, Mowarrid’s journey has been rewarding by enabling small businesses in Egypt with smarter supply chain solutions,” Ahmed Essam, the founder, and CEO of Mowarrid.
On March 1, Mowarrid as a brand and as a legal entity ceased to exist. It has become Sary Egypt with Essam as its general manager.
“Sharing many values and principles, our combined force is our greatest advantage in the next years as we continue to solidify our grounds in the current markets and continue the expansion journey with a solid head start,” added Essam, who has previously worked as a financial specialist with Egypt’s leading e-payment gateway Fawry.
Looking forward, Essam sees a lot of potential in the B2B e-commerce sector across the region.
“B2B platforms are one of the hottest spaces right now, topping the charts of funding rounds,” he told Zawya in a phone interview. “There is a huge market size & opportunity in MENAP Region. B2B platforms are accelerating the digitization of this sector attracting investments into the region and Egypt.”
According to a MAGNITT recent report, funding into e-commerce grew by 235 percent between 2020 and 2021 in MENA. Saudi Arabian startups have secured 38 percent of the total capital deployed in the sector last year.
The flourishing of e-commerce is partially attributed to the ability of B2B marketplaces to attract investments. Last year, three key deals were closed by B2B startups MaxAB and Capiter, which raised $55 million and $33 million respectively in Series-A rounds. As 2021 neared its end, Sary announced that it had raised $75 million in a Series C funding led by the kingdom's PIF-owned Sanabil Investments.
The same trend was seen in Pakistan, another major emerging venture market. In 2021 major rounds were closed by B2B e-commerce startups including Tazah Technologies and Bazaar, which accounted for 70 percent of all capital raised in Pakistan-based e-commerce startups.
(Reporting by Noha El Hennawy; editing by Seban Scaria)
