Lebanese Super App Toters Raises $18M for Expansion

Lebanese super app toters has raised $18 million in Series B funding, money the company says will help it expand into Iraq.

As Magnitt reported Wednesday (June 8), the round was led by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and March Holding, along with returning backer B&Y Ventures and other investors.

Founded in 2017, toters began life as a food delivery service but has since blossomed into a super app that offers grocery delivery, payment services and courier services.

Its expansion into Iraq comes as that country’s delivery sector is growing increasingly concentrated, the Magnitt report said.

“toters and other logistics platforms can serve as a key infrastructure layer within digital economies because they create earning opportunities for micro-entrepreneurs, which are the couriers, digitize small and medium-sized enterprises, and offer a platform upon which multiple digital services can be built,” said IFC’s Anissa Kanoun, MEANP regional lead.

Read more: In the US, Food Delivery Services Struggle to Achieve Super App Status

She compared the company to Gojek, the Indonesia mobility platform that has become a super app that offers services that range from payments to delivery to laundry.

“We really believe that toters have the potential to have a similar impact in the markets where they operate,” Kanoun said.

She added that Iraq’s large, young and tech-savvy population offers the company a tremendous opportunity, one it can capitalize on by onboarding new restaurants, retailers and couriers.

Learn more: Investment in MENA Startups More Than Doubled in Q1 to $864M

As PYMNTS noted earlier this year, funding for startups in in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region more than doubled in the first quarter of 2022, reaching $864 million, even as the region’s economies continue to recover from the pandemic.

Between Jan. 1 and March 31 of this year, startups in the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey had already raised 48% of all capital collected in 2021.