el-dokan, MENA's First Enterprise E-Commerce Startup, Secures $550K Pre-Seed Round
el-dokan, the first-of-its-kind startup in the MENA region offering enterprise e-commerce technology, has received $550,000 in a pre-Seed round led by a group of local and regional investors including EFG EV and Flat6Labs, 500 Global, and Hala Ventures.
This is the fourth undisclosed seed round that the startup is announcing since its first on January 1st, 2019 which was followed by another Non-Equity Assistance from ChangeLabs on September 14th, 2020, then another from 500 Startups on July 6th last year.
E-commerce is now an essential component of every retailer’s business strategy, and technology developers and platforms are vying to provide the best technology to help retailers scale up and optimize their operations. Unlike companies like Shopify and other local shop builders in the region, el-dokan provides e-commerce APIs for large- and medium-sized retailers as well as startups, allowing them to build highly customized and personalized e-commerce stores.
Ahmed Maher, Mohamed Yousry, and Mohammed Shirt co-founded el-dokan in 2019, primarily for large retailers and chain stores looking to increase sales and expand their e-commerce market share. Using “headless e-commerce technology,” el-dokan provides the best technological infrastructure for tech teams to create highly customizable e-commerce with maximum flexibility, allowing businesses to respond faster to changing business needs and keep up with the rapid changes in e-commerce.
With 300+ available API endpoints, it also targets software companies and developers who work directly with enterprises looking to build their e-commerce stores quickly and cost-effectively.
Co-founder and CEO of el-dokan, Ahmed Maher, attributed the company’s ability to earn the trust of investors and close its pre-seed round mainly to the fact that it is one of a few companies focusing on building advanced software using state-of-the-art technologies such as headless, composable e-commerce architecture.
What the other Stakeholders are Saying
Also commenting on the round, Mohamed Yousry, chief technology officer and co-founder of el-dokan said “The majority of retailers have repeatedly shown the willingness to either replace the traditional e-commerce methods with more advanced and flexible technology. The technology pioneered by el-dokan ‘changes the equation by helping retailers drive sales growth while simultaneously bringing down maintenance costs, making it possible for our retailers to quickly and easily develop APIs connections with our partners to ensure the highest levels of operational efficiency. Our technology can easily integrate with any third-party providers like payments, shipping, point of sale (POS) and (ERP) systems.”
“After seeing the great impact el-dokan has had on enterprise businesses in MENA, and the profound growth we’ve experienced over a short period, we’re excited about the fact that our clients managed to achieve $45 million GMV after migrating from other global well-known software solutions that don’t meet the present-day challenges ours. We are now serving a global roster of clients such as Procter & Gamble (P&G), Misr Pharmacies, Mobily, Zahran stores, and Apple Premium seller Switch Plus, along with the grocery delivery app Appetito, among others. And this is a testament to the ability of regionally-based tech startups to develop leading-edge technologies trusted by large, international brands and compete with global counterparts,” Yousry explained.
Commenting on behalf of the investors, Walid Hassouna, the CEO of valU, Egypt’s leading buy now pay later platform, expressed his excitement over the startup’s successful completion of its initial funding round which counts EFG EV among its earliest backers. “We are looking forward to exciting times ahead with el-dokan and its all-star team who can carve out a niche for themselves in the rapidly-evolving e-commerce market.”