Sharwa, Egypt's Social Commerce Startup, Secures a $2M Pre-Seed Funding Round
Sharwa, an Egyptian Social commerce startup has today announced the closing of $2 million in Nuwa Capital and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund-co-led pre-seed funding round, with participation from several strategic angel investors. The startup says the funds will be used to further develop its technology platform, as well as expand its team.
Customers can use the social commerce platform to get the best prices on household essentials such as groceries, appliances, and homecare. Customers can also combine their baskets into a group order and place it through Sharwa via WhatsApp or directly on the app, gaining access to wholesale prices from manufacturers for next-day delivery.
At the same time, Sharwa works with local community leaders who have been Super Users of the service to collect orders in their area to provide service in remote areas.
Customers can purchase products at two price points: individually or in groups. Whereas when compared to retail prices, group prices can save up to 40%; the discounts are unlocked when a customer invites someone to buy with them or joins an existing group formed by other customers.
Sharwa, which was founded earlier this year by Alaa Shalaby, Hassan El Shourbagi, and Mohamed Hanafy, aims to bridge the gap between Egypt’s large number of social media users and low levels of e-commerce adoption.
Sharwa has grown significantly thus far, attracting tens of thousands of customers to its platform. The service is currently available in Cairo and surrounding areas, with a 12-month expansion plan to cover the rest of Egypt and process hundreds of thousands of orders.
What the Stakeholders are saying
“The experience we aim to deliver is similar to going to a hypermarket with family; one person is pushing around the same cart and everyone can throw things in,” said Alaa Shalaby, Chief Executive Officer. In our model, you all benefit from the unlocked low prices. Our customers appreciate our service as a tool for combating inflation.”
“We empower local manufacturers to reach as many customers as possible in a data-driven way, to achieve the most streamlined supply chain,” said Hassan El Shourbagi, Chief Operating Officer. We have created an end-to-end value chain that sources from manufacturers and delivers to customers, allowing manufacturers to focus on what they do best.”
In addition, Mohamed Hanafy, Chief Product Officer, stated, “We have yet to see technology that is tailored for first-time internet users.” We are solving day-to-day problems with a discovery mindset. And we’ve designed our experience to be more straightforward, social, and trustworthy.”
Giving reasons for their investment, Arnav Danthi, senior associate at Nuwa Capital, explained “Throughout our conversations with Alaa, Hassan, and Hanafy, we were impressed with each individually. They were each operationally experienced and had extensive experience scaling leading, regional tech startups. It was their combined team dynamic, camaraderie, and deep passion for their business that finalized our conviction.”
While Hambro Perks Oryx Fund’s general partner, Ivo Detelinov said “We’re excited to support a platform like Sharwa, which has identified a key challenge for today’s consumers in Egypt and is addressing it by leveraging technology and social connection. The leadership team has proven experience at innovative and successful consumer businesses in the region and we look forward to seeing how they grow the Sharwa platform.”