Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund backs Mrayti
Jordan-based Mrayti gets backed by the ISSF to set forth on the track of becoming a leading regional player in the cosmetics and beauty industry across the Middle East.
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The Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF), the leading investment fund of its kind in Jordan, has announced a direct investment of $120K in Mrayti, the Middle Eastern cosmetics startup and beauty platform.
Mrayti is a middle east startup specializing in clean cosmetics and personal care products free of health-compromising chemicals or compounds. Founded By Romouz Sadeq in Amman, Mrayti has become a prominent player in the beauty and personal care industry offering 500+ carefully selected products on the platform. In 2021, Mrayti launched its first line of locally manufactured cosmetics under the brand name.
As recorded in our State of Startup Funding- 2022 Emerging Venture Markets Free Report, the Jordanian VC ecosystem was able to take part in MENA’s 130% + YoY VC funding growth over 2021. Though the market is rather nascent compared to its peer ecosystems in MENA, it climbed 1 rank in 2021 to become the 4th-most funded geography in MENA crossing the $100M for the first time since 2015. Looking at the top 5 funding rounds in Jordan over 2021, the startups involved did not only raise sizable investments over the past year, but a lot of them also showed impressive maturity in the market. Of the most funded startups in Jordan 2021, dentist cosmetics manufacturer Eon Dental and online classifieds platform OpenSooq, both raising $20M+ rounds, as well as EdTech platform Abwaab which also acquired its Pakistan-based counterpart Edmatrix last year, and POS solutions provider POSRocket which was acquired by the MENA leading food platform aggregator Foodics in early 2022.
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The investment aligns with the Innovative Future Initiative, which the ISSF launched to support startups and SMEs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan. Organized in coordination with the World Bank, the initiative has allocated USD 7.5 million to empower these companies to overcome the challenges imposed by the global health crisis. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Jordanian companies experienced significant challenges, that made it difficult for them to continue or impeded the growth of their business, and here comes the ISSF's role in enabling startups and SMEs to not only endure but also prosper. ISSF investment in “Mrayti” comes from our belief in Jordanian entrepreneurs and their ability to turn challenges into new opportunities for development and expansion, thereby contributing to supporting local entrepreneurial activity and positively impacting the national economy as a whole,” commented ISSF CEO, Laith Al Qasem.
The ISSF is registered as a Jordanian private shareholding company. The objective of the ISSF is to support and elevate Jordan’s entrepreneurial and innovation landscape by facilitating the establishment of new investment funds that serve the ecosystem; making direct investments in innovative, export-oriented and scalable local startups; as well as implementing initiatives that improve the capabilities of Jordanian entrepreneurs and startup teams through training, capacity building and targeted incubation and acceleration programs.
The Jordan-based beauty & cosmetics startup Mrayti will be able to use its newly acquired funds to further ground its position in the market and expand its regional footprint. In turn, Founder of Mrayti, Romouz Sadeq, elaborated, “The team and I are excited to make Mrayti a regional favorite for savvy consumers by the end of this year. ISSF’s investment comes at such a pivotal moment as we’ve just launched our own products and sends a strong signal that Jordanian startup ecosystem continues to lead with innovation and confidence.”
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