EGYPT – Egyptian based Arabic eCommerce platform, ExpandCart, has raised US$2.5 million in a Series A round led by Egyptian VC Sawari Ventures with the Agility Ventures (the corporate VC arm of logistics firm Agility), and Graphene Ventures and some angel investors.

The investment will be channeled towards digital commerce solutions targeting online and offline retailers reducing the gap between merchants and suppliers across the Middle East.

“This new round of funding will help us work on our ambitious roadmap of new innovative eCommerce solutions that we will be rolling out to supercharge eCommerce growth in the Middle East.”

Co-founder and CEO of ExpandCart – Amr Shawqy

ExpandCart was formed in 2013 by Sameh Nabil and Amr Shawqy to enable individuals and businesses to build online stores in English and Arabic on their platform.

The startup offers integrated point-of-sale systems for retailers that help in managing their omnipresence presence. ExpandCart also has branded mobile app solutions for merchants.

“We believe that technology can empower commerce and with that vision in mind, we have built solutions to help merchants expand their sales online and offline,” Amr Shawqy, the co-founder and CEO of ExpandCart, said in a statement.

“This new round of funding will help us work on our ambitious roadmap of new innovative eCommerce solutions that we will be rolling out to supercharge ecommerce growth in the Middle East.”

ExpandCart plans to use the investment to double down on digital commerce solutions that target online and offline retailers and reduce the gap between suppliers and merchants in the Middle East.

“Over the past years, the ExpandCart team was able to build an amazing platform supporting thousands of merchants from all over the Middle East.

“Their new ecommerce solutions roadmap proves that they truly understand the future of eCommerce, and we are excited to be part of their journey,” Ahmed Alfi, the Chairman of Sawari Ventures, said.

ExpandCart’s plans start at US$19 per month and go as high as US$99 a month – which is slightly cheaper than Shopify which has plans starting from US$29 per month.

“Since our previous funding round in 2019 with ExpandCart, we have been working with them as a strategic partner in the region, their amazing highly-integrated product along with their impressive growth proves they are the only platform positioned to lead the Middle Eastern market. This is why we were eager to join this round with a follow-on funding,” Fahad Al Shatti, the Vice President of Corporate Venture Capital at Agility, said.

ExpandCart claims to be the leading ecommerce (enablement) platform in the region with over 20,000 merchants as its users (it is not clear if these merchants are active or have used it at a certain point) in over 40 countries.

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