Egypt's Brimore closes $25M Series A Round
The digital social commerce platform connecting local suppliers with distributors and building Egypt's alternative distribution network, Brimore has successfully raised $25M in its Series A round; marking the IFC's debut investment in the social commerce space.
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Egypt’s leading social commerce platform Brimore has successfully raised an exceptional $25M in its latest funding round. The Series A round was led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Endure Capital with participation from Fawry, Flourish, Endeavor Catalyst Fund, and existing Brimore investors including Algebra Ventures, Disruptech, Khawarizmi Ventures, and Vision Ventures. The Series A round followed Briomore’s $3.5M Pre-Series A round and Fawry’s acquisition of shares in the Egypt-based startup.
Founded in 2017, Brimore designed an extensive Social Commerce and distribution platform allowing local suppliers to have nationwide coverage through a network of individual distributors selling their products in their circles using all possible channels (omnichannel). Three years into its foundation, Brimore was able to grow 400x, build a massive network of almost 75,000 resellers to cover 27 cities within Egypt, with a focus on rural and remote areas.
As recorded in our State of Startup Funding-Emerging Venture Markets 2022 free report, Egypt has recorded a 176% YoY growth in VC funding in 2021. The Egyptian VC space is gaining more and more traction as startups develop digital and tech disruptions to cater to underserved segments and enhance traditional industries like retail. Reflective of the need for digitization, it was FinTech, Transport & Logistics (T&L), and E-commerce that closed the lion’s share of investments in 2021, accounting for more than 40% of all deals closed over the past year. With Egypt’s T&L and crediting-services startup Halan closing the only Mega Deal for the country in 2021, sizable investments have been deployed backing FinTech and E-commerce solutions including $55M in MaxAB and $33M in Capiter. This being said, this latest investment indicated that the Egyptian entrepreneurial space is also ready for large funding rounds after being the only geography amongst the top 3 to observe an increase in Early-Stage (<$500K) deal share of total transactions in 2021. Nonetheless, with investors like Flat6Labs and AUC Angels continuously backing emerging ventures, the development of both Early & Later-Stage deals in Egypt over the next year will be of utmost importance.
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Brimore uses its unique infrastructure and proprietary technology to avail market penetration opportunities to emerging brands owners. Brimore enables its sellers, who are mostly women, to unlock an alternative and flexible income method and become local business leaders through their custom solutions of online and offline sales channels. “In the past three years, we’ve focused on building a smart and reliable infrastructure that enables the masses to do their commerce businesses, wherever they are, and whatever they have,” said Mohamed Abdulaziz, Brimore’s CEO and Co-Founder. “We’ll be using the fresh fund to scale our infrastructure, enabling many more people to continue their journey of 50x growth by 2023, and opening this gate of hope and opportunity to other people in African markets.
Ahmed Sheikha, Chief Business and Investment Officer and Co-Founder at Brimore added: “Our ambition is to create a global model where market access is democratized through the power of people. Our promise is that we will use technology, operations and creative financing models to make it true.” Brimore isn't only about online reselling, it commoditizes trust, allowing brands to reach all types of audiences, and helps resellers sell online and offline, especially in areas with minimal internet penetration.”
The new capital will fuel Brimore’s growth within the next year, growing its network of sellers and suppliers 4x, doubling the number of its employees, and increasing the number of products sold three-fold. By 2023, Brimore aims to operate in three countries and strengthen its physical logistics capabilities. Walid Labadi, IFC’s country manager for Egypt, said: “IFC is excited to support Brimore as a leader in social commerce in Egypt. This is our largest direct investment in social commerce so far,” said Walid Labadi, IFC’s country manager for Egypt. “IFC’s co-lead investment in Brimore aims to help the platform continue to democratize access to e-commerce, increase economic opportunities for women, and support the development of the local manufacturing sector in the country.”
Brimore has had an exemplary funding track leading to its $25M Series A round. Starting with an initial Pre-Seed investment of only $56K from initial backers Flat6Labs back in 2018, the Social Commerce startup and retail network would then close 2 other rounds to raise more than $4M in funds prior to this Series A furndaise. Commenting on this platform-boosting investment Tarek Fahim, Managing Partner at Endure Capital highlighted, “Every decade, comes a company that fuses technology, operations excellence, and human capital to unlock unprecedented impact and value. We are proud to be Brimore's first and continuous partner in their mission of building the infrastructure and technology for social commerce in Egypt and Africa, to change the lives of their partners, especially women who aspire for a better future for themselves and their families."
The Egypt-based startup will channel its fresh funds into growing its product oferring and supplier network, as well as expanding across the continent to become the leading social commerce app of Africa. Tarek Assaad, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures concluded, “As Brimore experienced explosive growth over the past three years, Algebra has worked closely with the company to support in strategic and operational areas, especially recruitment, which is a key area of focus at Algebra. We came in on the first round of investment and invested in every subsequent round, to ensure that the growth momentum stays on track. We are delighted to see such a strong group of investors, many of whom have co-invested with us in the past, coming into the company. I am humbled by how Mohamed and Ahmed have grown as leaders and continue to drive the execution and vision of the company forward.”
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