B2B Marketplace Cartona Raises $12M for Expansion

Cartona, an Egyptian B2B eCommerce marketplace for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space, has raised $12 million in Series A funding.

According to a Monday (July 25) press release, Cartona plans to use the funds to extend its footprint in Egypt, expand its product, services and technology, and explore sectors beyond FMGC.

The round was led by Silicon Badia, with participation from SANAD Fund for MSME, Arab Bank Accelerator, Sunny Side Ventures, Global Ventures, and Kepple Ventures.

Read more: Egyptian B2B eCommerce Startup Cartona Partners With Unilever

“We are thrilled to partner with the Cartona team to help them continue to disrupt the $120 billion Egyptian retail market through its B2B technology platform and embedded financial service offerings,” said Namek T. Zu’bi, founding managing partner at Silicon Badia. “The market is hungry for these type of solutions, and we believe Cartona’s asset-light approach will allow them to serve as many marketplace participants as possible in a highly efficient manner.”

Cartona has said its goal is to digitize Egypt’s trade system, much of which still operates offline. In May, the company launched a partnership with multinational consumer goods company Unilever to help add new offerings to Cartona’s base of retailers, suppliers, and distributors.

“This cooperation allows both parties to offer unique solutions, revolutionizing Egypt’s traditional trade and broadening our prospective user base across various governorates,” Cartona CEO Mahmoud Talaat said in May. “The partnership also aims to support Unilever’s expansion plans in the Egyptian market, ahead of a promising stage in the short and long term alike.”

See also: Egyptian B2B eCommerce Shipper ShipBlu Partners With Location Tech Provider What3words

In other recent news from Egypt’s eCommerce sector, shipping firm ShipBlu formed a partnership in June with what3words, a location technology company, to help ensure shipping accuracy and efficiency.

In Egypt, a major issue is communicating the right delivery locations, which what3words said it solves by dividing the globe into a grid and providing each location with a unique word combination to determine where it is.

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