Cartona Raises $8.1 Million to Expand B2B Platform Across MENA

Cartona has raised $8.1 million in a Series A extension fundraise to continue growing the product rollout, verticals and offerings of its B2B platform for businesses in Egypt and, in the future, other markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The platform currently digitizes and empowers mom-and-pop stores, hotels, restaurants, cafes, fast-moving consumer goods companies and wholesalers in Egypt, the company said in a Tuesday (July 30) press release.

“We have an exciting future ahead, replicating the successful execution of our business model in other regional markets — all making trading as easy and accessible as possible for retailers and suppliers,” Mahmoud Talaat, CEO and co-founder of Cartona, said in the release.

Cartona’s B2B platform digitizes the traditional trade market and connects retailers with producers, distributors and wholesalers, according to the release.

By doing so, it enables retailers to order inventory through a mobile app; access embedded financing that is integrated into the ordering cycles; and gain detailed market insights on buyer behavior, price competition and market share, the release said.

With these resources, retailers can better manage their stock and working capital via cash or credit orders and improve profit margins, per the release.

Omar Khashaba, general partner at Algebra Ventures, which led the funding round, said in the release that Cartona has a capital-efficient model that allows it to grow and profit even amid economic headwinds.

“The asset light nature of its model creates scalable infrastructure that can quickly be adapted for entry into new markets and adjacencies,” Khashaba said in the release. “Cartona has also been a driving force for financial inclusion in the retail sector as more and more of its small merchants take advantage of inventory financing options.”

When Cartona announced an earlier funding round in July 2022, the company said it aimed to digitize Egypt’s trade system, much of which was still operating offline, with its B2B platform.

A month earlier, in May 2022, the company said it was working with multinational consumer goods company Unilever in a partnership designed to give Unilever access to a digital network of retailers and to help Cartona’s customers access Unilever products more easily.

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