Egyptian Start Up ‘Cartona’ Leading Digitization of Egypt’s Trade Market Raises $4.5 Million

Image by Rinaldo Imperiale from Pixabay

Cartona, a business-to-business platform leading efforts to digitize Egypt’s trade market, announced on Tuesday that it had successfully raised $USD 4.5 million in a Pre-Series A fund-raise.

The fund-raise was led by Global Ventures, a Dubai-based international venture capital firm, and saw participation from Kepple Africa Ventures, T5 Ventures and a group of angel investors. The funding will be used by Cartona to invest in technology, launch new products and expand beyond its current presence in Greater Cairo, Alexandria and Mansoura.

Founded in 2020 by Mahmoud Talaat and Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, Cartona is an e-commerce marketplace for businesses that aims to solve supply-chain and operational challenges for the fast-moving consumer goods industry. Cartona manages to do so by digitizing the traditional trade market, offering solutions that connect retailers to manufacturers and wholesalers. For example, grocery retailers are able to use Cartona’s mobile application to order their store’s supply digitally from a curated network of sellers.

“Small and medium retailers deserve the opportunity to operate their businesses efficiently while delivering growth simultaneously. To do so, they need access to credit, inventory and payment services. We are dedicated to empowering the B2B ecosystem through technology and supply chain innovation,” explained Mahmoud Talaat, the CEO and co-founder of Cartona in a statement.

“Cartona is committed to building a strong network of digitally connected retailers that have better control over their businesses through running a seamless daily operation.”

Despite being a newcomer on Egypt’s start up scene, Cartona has already made waves in Egypt. To date, Cartona has acquired more than 30,000 users across Cairo and Alexandria, processing over 400,000 orders with an annualized gross merchandise value of EGP 1 billion.

The start up currently works with 100 companies from the fast-moving consumer goods industry and 1,000 distributors and wholesalers, offering consumers more than 10,000 products, including dry, fresh and frozen food. Companies that sell directly using Cartona include Lamar, Red Bull, Domty, Faragello, Kellogg’s, Koki and more.

According to Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, CTO of Cartona, the trade market’s digital transformation will have significant impacts

“It is time to capitalize on technology beyond warehouses and trucks,” said Abdel-Fattah in a statement.

“Data and technology will transform traditional retail to a digitally-native one, which in return will drastically improve the supply chain efficiency.”

Find out more about Cartona by clicking here.