EGYPT – Egyptian Agri-Fintech platform Mozare3, has closed a seven-figure pre-seed funding round led by Algebra Ventures and Disruptech Ventures, with participation from EFG-EV, and a group of reputable angel investors.

Mozare3 aims to roll out multiple fintech offerings, one of which is the launch of credit solutions to finance purchases of different products for farmers and their families.

The startup was founded in 2020 by Hussein Abou Bakr and Tamer El-Raghy to serve over 20 million small farmers in Egypt by providing them with access to markets and credit.

They currently have 100 farmers with who they have offtake agreements and three large institutional buyers.

Mozare3 aims to grow the network of farmers they have an agreement to 2,500 and have between 25 to 50 institutional buyers by the end of 2022.

“The agriculture industry suffers from price opaqueness, supply fragmentation, and high levels of fraud, to name a few of the challenges. We believe that it is one of the segments of the Egyptian economy that can benefit the most from tech efficiencies.”

Tarek Assaad – Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures

Speaking on the round, Tarek Assaad, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures attributed their investment into the startup to the innovative financial products offered in a market that requires a tech-enabled solution.

“The agriculture industry suffers from price opaqueness, supply fragmentation, and high levels of fraud, to name a few of the challenges. We believe that it is one of the segments of the Egyptian economy that can benefit the most from tech efficiencies,” said Assaad.

“We had been looking at making an agritech investment for some time and are delighted to support Hussein and Tamer as they address this massive opportunity. We were impressed by the vision, capabilities, and passion of the Mozare3 team, and we are excited to be part of their journey.”

Tamer El-Raghy, co-founder of Mozare3 explains that the startup provides a service that aims to address existing gaps within the smallholder farmer industry.

“While the Agri sector contributes more than 10% of the GDP and 25% of national employment, farmland is very fragmented with more than 40% of the farms with an area of less than 1 acre,” said Tamer.

“This fragmentation represents an opportunity for an agri-fintech platform, like Mozare3, to bring efficiencies to the supply side, by providing those farmers with innovative financial products, agronomy support, and access to markets, and hence turn those farmers into contract-farmers, to fulfil the growing demand of consumers, processors, and exporters.”

The startup also plans to develop the first digital community for Egyptian farmers and offer them agronomy support through its professional network. This they will do through an app they have been beta-testing for a while now.

The app will enable farmers to sell their future products through digital offtake agreements, receive agronomy support and allow them to buy fertilizers.

The app will also serve farmers who do not have offtake agreements with the startup by helping them buy different types of products and receive online support from its in-house experts.

According to MENAbytes, the startup is hoping to reach 10,000 farmers within the next eighteen months with the app.

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