ShipBlu raises pre-Seed funding led by Nama Ventures
Egypt-based logistics startup, ShipBlu, has recently announced the raise of an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding to help it expand its operations.
ShipBlu was one of the nine African startups chosen for the latest Y Combinator accelerator in Silicon Valley, and the company has now announced that the US$125,000 it received from YC is part of a larger pre-seed round led by Nama Ventures with participation from prominent angel investors from San Francisco and Saudi Arabia.
Founded in October 2020 by Ali Nasser, Abdelrahman Hosny, and Ahmed El Kawass, ShipBlu provides e-commerce fulfillment services utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.
Ali, the CEO, has an investment banking background, previously at Citi in New York City, returned to Egypt in 2018, and became painfully aware of the woes of last-mile delivery in the region.
COO of ShipBlu, Ahmed comes from a supply chain and advertising background, previously at Nestle and Reckitt Benckiser, and most recently leading the communications department at 77 Media of Saudi Arabia.
Abdelrahman comes from a computer science background and is currently completing his Ph.D. at Brown University in the US, focusing on the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in combinatorial optimization.
Together, the three founders joined forces in 2020 and began building ShipBlu, seeking to redefine the shipping experience in Egypt for thousands of merchants and millions of customers who shop online every day.
Through its fleet across Egypt, ShipBlu offers delivery within three hours to e-commerce customers with shipping transparency.
The startup allows customers to choose their preferred three-hour delivery window and track couriers’ progress in real-time as they approach their destinations, providing complete shipping transparency.
Commenting on the raise, Nasser, ShipBlu’s chief executive officer (CEO) explained that ShipBlu is poised to provide a quality shipping experience for customers and clients.
“People are excited about shopping online in Egypt because it’s effortless and convenient. Unfortunately, a lot of times the delivery experience really puts people off. Some of it is due to a lack of infrastructure; some of it is due to poor resource management. At ShipBlu, we’ve solved both parts of that problem. We promise to deliver a shipping experience that customers will look forward to so that merchants can stay focused on what matters, and customers can continue to enjoy online shopping,”
While Mohammed Alzubi, managing partner of Nama Ventures, said he was proud to make ShipBlu his firm’s first investment in Egypt.
“We have really enjoyed getting to know the founders and seeing their passion to disrupt the e-commerce shipping experience. The team is unparalleled to address this opportunity. We are witnessing first-hand what a well-rounded team with complementary skillsets can do in a very short time. Riding with Ali, Ahmed, and Abdelrahman on the ShipBlu spaceship has already been exciting, but we can’t wait to see what the future holds together,” he said.
Ghana’s Jetstream raises $3m seed funding to simplify freighting across Africa