In a seed round, Opontia, a Dubai-based business that acquires and expands e-commerce companies, raised $20 million in debt and equity.
Global Founders Capital, Presight Capital, Raed Ventures, and Kingsway Capital are among the investors in this round.
Tushar Ahluwalia, CEO of Razor Group; Jonathan Doerr, former CEO of Daraz and co-founder of Jumia; and Hosam Arab, CEO of Tabby and previous CEO of Namshi, are among the angel investors that participated.
It is the largest seed round in the Middle East and North Africa for a startup.
Opontia is particularly interested in brands with a monthly revenue of at least $10,000 and a monthly net profit of at least $5,000. Less seasonal ‘all-weather’ products, such as kitchen products, bathroom, sport, home and lifestyle, cosmetics, and toys, are among the types of products they are interested in.
Thrasio is the dominant player in the market, and its business model of acquiring smaller e-commerce firms that appear potential and combining them has already proven effective in other nations such as the United States and Europe.
When small e-commerce businesses take off, their founders are frequently enthusiastic about their products and customers.
Most, however, reach a point of stagnation due to limits on working capital, operations, logistics, and e-commerce commercial management through no fault of their own.
“We founded Opontia to assist e-commerce businesses to reach the full potential of their brands,” stated Philip Johnston, CEO of Opontia. We want to do this for two reasons: to secure a quick exit and to gain from future development. We also wish to contribute to the development of the Middle East and African entrepreneurial e-commerce ecosystem.”
“The market in the Middle East and Africa is now less mature than in the West, but it is expanding faster than any other market in the world, with the number of sellers on marketplace expanding at over 50% each year,” said Manfred Meyer, co-CEO of Opontia.
Opontia, founded in March 2021 by Philip Johnston and Manfred Meyer in Dubai and Riyadh, purchases high-performing e-commerce enterprises in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Cairo, Istanbul, and Lagos are among the cities where the company aims to open.
The funds raised will be utilized to support acquisitions and build these businesses, with the remainder going toward expanding the company’s e-commerce staff.
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