Cairo – Mubasher: Food and grocery B2B e-commerce and distribution platform, MaxAB, has raised a $40 million pre-series B equity round to fuel its expansion across the MENAP region.
The round included several new investors: Silver Lake through its Long Term Capital strategy; British International Investment (BII), the development finance institution of the UK government; and DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture platform, according to a recent press release.
The round also saw participation from existing investors; Beco Capital, 4DX Ventures, Flourish Ventures, and Africa Platform Capital.
MaxAB is transforming the food and grocery supply chain by connecting suppliers with underserved traditional retailers and offering a wide range of embedded finance solutions, supporting the country’s economic development.
Since launching in 2018, MaxAB's e-commerce business has successfully served around 150,000 unique traditional retailers, delivering 2.50 million orders while maintaining an industry-leading delivery success rate.
Serving a network of traditional retailers across Egypt and Morocco, MaxAB plans further geographic expansions to see full geographical coverage of Morocco by the end of 2023 and an entry into Saudi Arabia.
MaxAB will also use the new capital to finance further growth in the e-commerce arm of its business, expand its technology and product teams, and further scale the fintech arm by offering a wider range of embedded finance solutions.
CEO and Co-Founder at MaxAB, Belal El-Megharbel, said: “Within just four years of operations, we have been able to re-engineer the informal food and grocery market in Egypt and Morocco. We are thrilled to have gained the recognition and financial backing of world-class investors, adding to the reception and support we receive from the retailers and suppliers we serve.”
In Egypt, small traditional retailers serve as the backbone of the grocery industry with a similar dynamic existing in other markets across the MENAP region. MaxAB estimates that there are over 750,000 mom-and-pop businesses requiring its services in Egypt and Morocco alone while Saudi Arabia is particularly attractive, given the government's drive to digitise the informal sector and the FMCG’s willingness to explore new business models.
