\n
\nCAIRO:\u00a0Cartona, a B2B trade platform based in Egypt, has recently raised $12 million in a series A funding round. The proceeds will be used to expedite the company\u2019s expansion across Egypt, grow its product range and technology and explore new verticals.<\/p>\n
\nJordan-based venture capital firm Silicon Badia led the round with SANAD Fund for MSME, Arab Bank Accelerator, Sunny Side Ventures and existing investors alongside Global Ventures and Kepple Ventures.<\/p>\n
\nMahmout Talaat, CEO of Cartona, told Arab News exclusively that the company will introduce buy now, pay later options for its retailers and sellers.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe fintech solution is not meant to enhance our financials, but it\u2019s very much needed for small shops to survive. So, it\u2019s completely different from a B2C buy now, pay later option,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nTalaat added that the BNPL solutions would contribute from 40 to 45 percent of transactions happening on the platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019re planning to achieve around 40 to 45 percent through BNPL. We believe that in the end, it\u2019s up for the person to choose if he wants to buy it in cash, which is the cheapest option, or through supplier credit,\u201d Talaat said.<\/p>\n
\nUsing a light-asset business model, Cartona does not own any warehouses, products, or vehicles and only takes a percentage fee on each order happening on the platform between retailers and wholesalers.<\/p>\n
\nTalaat also said that a huge focus of their operations is going into integrations with enterprise resource planning software, making it a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe are working strongly in expanding our integrations since we are a partner to our suppliers. We do not compete with them. We are a digital channel for their sales.\u00a0 And this is part of our value proposition where we integrate them directly with our company\u2019s ERP,\u201d Talaat added.<\/p>\n
\nCartona currently has around 1,500 suppliers using its platform to connect with over 60,000 retailers across 11 cities.<\/p>\n
\nTalaat added the company is not yet profitable as it was founded in 2020 but is planning to have a positive cash flow by 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/444656\/mahmoud_talaat.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\nWe are working strongly in expanding our integrations since we are a partner to our suppliers. We do not compete with them. We are a digital channel for their sales.<\/strong><\/p>\n\nMahmout Talaat<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re growing five times every year. We have aggressive plans but are focusing on getting a good market share in the cities we are operating in and not expanding extremely fast to get good unit economics because our platform is based on geolocation,\u201d Talaat stated.<\/p>\n
\nCurrently, the company focuses on the fast-moving consumer goods industry but, with its technology, it will be able to diversify into different sectors.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe are planning to explore other verticals that have the same dynamics as a lot of suppliers and a lot of physical, small retail shops such as light construction materials or electronics. We are studying all our options and planning, hopefully in 2023, to also start doing the same thing that we did in FMCG in another vertical,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\nTalaat stated that the FMCG market in Egypt is worth around $60 to $70 billion and is growing 8 percent annually.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe market itself is huge; more than 96 percent are still offline; online adoption is still low, so I believe there is room for everyone to grow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\nWith FMCG costs rising in Egypt, Cartona has supported retailers by providing over 12,000 products with different price ranges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO:\u00a0Cartona, a B2B trade platform based in Egypt, has recently raised $12 million in a series…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
Seera Group to capture lost ground this year as tourism improves - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seera Group to capture lost ground this year as tourism improves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-27T20:16:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/444656\/13_1a.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Seera Group to capture lost ground this year as tourism improves - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Seera Group to capture lost ground this year as tourism improves","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2022-08-27T20:16:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/444656\/13_1a.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=2238"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"Seera Group to capture lost ground this year as tourism improves","datePublished":"2022-08-27T20:16:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=2238"},"wordCount":575,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/444656\/13_1a.png","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=2238","url":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy","name":"Seera Group to capture lost ground this year as tourism improves - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/444656\/13_1a.png","datePublished":"2022-08-27T20:16:42+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/444656\/13_1a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/444656\/13_1a.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2151501\/business-economy#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Seera Group to capture lost ground this year as tourism improves"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}