$25 M secured by Egyptian social commerce startup Brimore in Series A round
Brimore, an Egyptian social commerce platform, has raised $25 million in a Series A round of investment, which it will use to extend its product and supplier listings and expand across Africa to become the continent’s biggest social commerce app.
Brimore, which was founded in 2017, has developed a platform that uses the strength of individual social networks to provide wide, cost-effective market access. Through a network of micro-distributors across Egypt, it allows producers to sell their products directly to end customers.
Hundreds of SMEs utilise the startup’s platform, which includes payment and supply chain features, to offer thousands of products like packaged meals, personal care, and home goods through tens of thousands of social sellers across Egypt’s 27 governorates.
Brimore raised a pre-Series A round of US $3.5 million in 2020, and Disrupt Africa announced in September of last year that it had won funding from Fawry, Egypt’s first startup “unicorn,” as part of its impending Series A round.
The full extent of that round has now been revealed, with the US$25 million capital injection led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Endure Capital, and including existing Brimore investors such as Algebra Ventures, Disruptech, Khawarizmi Ventures, and Vision Ventures, in addition to Fawry.
“In the past three years, we’ve focused on building a smart and reliable infrastructure that enables the masses to do their commerce businesses, wherever they are, and whatever they have,” said Mohamed Abdulaziz, Brimore’s CEO and co-founder. “We’ll be using the fresh fund to scale our infrastructure, enabling many more people to continue their journey of 50x growth by 2023, and opening this gate of hope and opportunity to other people in African markets.”
Walid Labadi, IFC’s country manager for Egypt, said IFC was excited to support Brimore as a leader in social commerce in Egypt. Brimore plans to utilise the funds to double its network of dealers and suppliers, double its workforce, and triple the number of items it sells. Brimore plans to expand its physical logistics capabilities and operate in three countries by 2023.
IFC’s national manager for Egypt, Walid Labadi, expressed his delight at the opportunity to help Brimore as a pioneer in social commerce in Egypt.
Every decade, according to Tarek Fahim, managing partner at Endure Capital, a firm emerges that “unlocks unparalleled impact and value” by fusing technology, operations excellence, and people capital.
“This is our largest direct investment in social commerce so far. IFC’s co-lead investment in Brimore aims to help the platform continue to democratise access to e-commerce, increase economic opportunities for women, and support the development of the local manufacturing sector in the country,” he said.
“We are proud to be Brimore’s first and continuous partner in their mission of building the infrastructure and technology for social commerce in Egypt and Africa, to change the lives of their partners, especially women who aspire for a better future for themselves and their families,” he added.
