Cartona, a B2B e-commerce marketplace founded in August 2020, focuses on solving supply chain and operational challenges for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry by digitizing the traditional, mostly offline trade market. The startup provides an asset-light marketplace that enables grocery retailers to order digitally from a chosen network of sellers for their store needs. Cartona has grown to over 30,000 users in Cairo and Alexandria, processing over 400,000 delivered orders worth EGP1 billion (US$63.5 million) annually since its beginning. It collaborates with 100 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms, 1,000 distributors, and wholesalers to provide consumers with over 10,000 products on its platform, including dry, fresh, and frozen foods. Cartona has raised US$4.5 million in a pre-Series A round of funding led by Global Ventures, an international venture capital firm based in Dubai, with participation from Kepple Africa Ventures, T5 Ventures, and a group of angel investors. The funds will be utilized to expand the technology’s capabilities in order to improve the user experience and bring embedded finance into the product and purchase cycle. Cartona also intends to extend their business throughout Egypt. “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. 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,” said Mahmoud Talaat, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Cartona. Basil Moftah, general partner at Global Ventures, said he was excited to lead the investment round. “The trade market is one of the most sophisticated, yet characterised by multiple critical inefficiencies across the value chain. Cartona’s asset-light approach tackles those inefficiencies by optimising the trade process in unique ways, and does so with minimal capital spent. The company has already demonstrated consistently stellar growth over the past year. We are thrilled to partner with the company’s solid, highly capable and experienced founding team on their third entrepreneurial journey,” he said.
