Cartona, a Cairo-based B2b marketplace that directly connects retailers with suppliers and manufacturers via an application has secured a $4.5 million pre-Series A funding round
Founded in August 2020, focuses on solving the supply-chain and operational challenges of players in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry by helping buyers access products from sellers on a single platform.
Cartona uses its platform to solve the major problem that most Egypt and African retailers face which is centred around transparency in market prices which are dependent on traditional logistical capabilities.
For suppliers, the lack of data and inability to make data-backed decisions to improve margins and aid growth add up to unoptimized warehouses.
Cartona has over 30,000 merchants on its platform and has successfully processed more than 400,000 orders with an annualized gross merchandise valued at $64 million.
The CEO Mahmoud Talaat stated that “we came up with the idea of Cartona, which is a fully light-asset model that connects manufacturers and wholesalers to retailers.”
“It is time to capitalize on technology beyond warehouses and trucks. Data and technology will transform traditional retail to a digitally native one, which in return will drastically improve the supply chain efficiency,” Abdel-Fattah said about how the company sells information to retailers and suppliers.
“I believe that the infrastructure already exists. We already have many warehouses, many small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, and wholesalers and distributors and companies that have a lot of assets. If you want to fix the problem, we think one should enable the people who are strategically located in small streets all over Egypt and have the infrastructure but don’t have the technology needed to optimize their warehouses and carts.”
A Dubai-based venture capital firm Global Ventures led the round, with Pan-African firm Kepple Africa, T5 Capital and angel investors also participated.
