"We Got Funded!" Cairo-Based E-Commerce Platform Mazaya Raises US$5 Million Pre-Seed Round Mazaya was founded in December 2021 with a mission to empower retailers and merchants of electronic goods and home appliances by enabling them to efficiently procure inventory for their stores through the Mazaya app.
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Mazaya, a Cairo-based e-commerce marketplace that focuses on electronics, has raised a US$5 million pre-seed funding round led by Raya Trade and Distribution, a subsidiary of Raya Holding for Financial Investments.
The new funds will now be used to help Mazaya scale its operations in Egypt and across new markets and verticals.
Mazaya was founded in December 2021 with a mission to empower retailers and merchants of electronic goods and home appliances by enabling them to efficiently procure inventory for their stores through the Mazaya app.
Mazaya claims to have worked with over 6,000 retailers to date, fulfilling over 30,000 orders, and achieving a gross merchandise value of more than $15 million.
In order to add more value to local merchants and retailers, Mazaya now plans to offer them credit facilities and flexible payment terms in order to help them scale their businesses, in addition to also offering them collection and payment services.
Amir Aboul Fotouh, co-founder and Head of Operations at Mazaya, hopes that the success Mazaya has seen so far will serve as an impetus for other Egyptian startups to build solutions catered to the local market.
"The Egyptian tech startup ecosystem is a major contributor to local employment, and our startups should focus on that and on the core of their business operations, rather than being obsessed with scaling the company in a short period of time," Fotouh says. "At the end of the day, it is about the value that a company provides, the efficiency of its operations, and the ongoing improvement and innovation that will make it last."
When asked to advise his fellow entrepreneurs about building a successful startup business, Fotouh advises them to focus on the cycle of acquiring, maintaining, and retaining customers.
"That means that you should acquire as much of the market as you can, then maintain a monthly level of business with them over a certain period of time in order to eventually normalize and retain it," Fotouh says. "I'd also advise other startup founders to choose their teams wisely as they can bring a lot to the table and have innovative ideas to keep your growth moving smoothly, but be sure that there is a shared vision of the company's future."
