NORTH AFRICA – RabbitMart, an Egyptian inventory-led on-demand delivery venture that also goes as Rabbit, has raised US$11 million in pre-seed funding.

San Francisco-based Global Founders Capital, Raed Ventures, Foundation Venture, MSA Capital and Goodwater Capital participated in this pre-seed round, a new record for its stage in Africa and the Middle East, reports TechCrunch.

Promising groceries and more in under 20 minutes, Rabbit is set to transform the future of retail.

Running on tech-enabled hyper-local fulfillment centers, the company is able to give consumers peace of mind, knowing what they order will never be out-of-stock and guaranteeing it arrives in under 20 minutes.

Ahmad Yousry, Walid Shabana, Ismail Hafez, and Tarek El Geresy founded Rabbit in June this year and it took them just 130 days to get from ideation to first order.

“Consumer expectations have evolved significantly over the past 2 decades. We are building a business with speed as a core part of the DNA, which is evident in how we operate and work.

“We measure things by seconds, because ultimately, we are not in the business of retail or convenience, we are in the business of time. We work hard to ensure we save you time to do more with your day,” said Yousry, Rabbit’s Chief Executive Officer.

The start-up controls the end-to-end experience on its platform with a live inventory tracking system in its warehouses to monitor what’s on the shelf and equip riders with the necessary protective gear and technology to make the deliveries.

Many publications covering the frenzy happening within the on-demand convenience delivery space have probed the question of whether these companies can fulfil their delivery times without breaking their riders.

It’s a situation Gorillas has faced this year; in a bid to execute deliveries in less than 10 minutes, it has attracted protests from some drivers demanding improved working conditions.

Yousry says Rabbit’s tech and operations are such that an in-house team takes care of receiving an order and packaging in 120 seconds or less.

Then, the rest, about 18 minutes, is left for drivers to complete the order. This way, Yousry hopes the company will not have to be at loggerheads with its drivers.

The company expects to process hundreds of thousands of orders per month soon and recruite over 100 personnels across driver, in-store and human resources departments to meet the high influx of demand it expects after going live.

B2B Moroccan marketplace Sle3ti secures investment

Still in North Africa, Sle3ti, a Casablanca-based B2B marketplace that allows retailers to order directly from suppliers and distributors of consumer goods (FMCG), has raised 12 million MDH (US$3.2m) from the investment fund of the Richbond Group.

Sle3ti will be able to expedite its rollout across Morocco’s regions and provide high added value services to merchants and its FMCG partners as a result of this investment.

“I am excited and honored to announce that Sle3ti has just completed the largest seed round fundraising for a Moroccan business with Moroccan investors.

“This investment from the Richbond group’s investment fund demonstrates the enthusiasm and great interest that the Sle3ti model and growth have sparked among several Moroccan and foreign investors, but it is also a vote of confidence on the part of a reference Moroccan group that strongly believes in our growth and capacity to contribute decisively to Morocco’s digital transformation of trade and distribution,” Sle3ti’s CEO and co-founder Ayoub Harij said.

Founded in 2020, Sle3ti claims it is the first ecommerce platform in Morocco that allows retailers to place orders directly with consumer goods manufacturers and distributors (FMCG).

Thousands of points of sale (grocery stores) are already using the company’s mobile app to place orders with its partner distributors, according to the company.

Through Sle3ti, the suppliers and distributors have complete control over their own product catalogue, prices, promotions, and fashion customer orders through the company’s own platform.

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