Freterium, a Moroccan transport management software company, said in December that it had secured a US $4 million seed round, which it would use to accelerate expansion and service additional enterprises across Africa and the Middle East.
Freterium, founded by Mehdi Cherif Alami and Omar El Kouhene in 2020, has developed transport management software that links shippers with the whole logistics ecosystem in real-time, allowing them to interact in real-time and save time and money. It presently has over 3,000 users and over 20 commercial customers.
After collecting US $4 million in venture investment, the firm saw rapid development in 2021 and built an office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is currently exploring additional expansion. Partech led the round, with participation from Y Combinator (Freterium was in the S21 cohort), Flexport, CDG Invest, Swiss Founders Fund, Outlierz Ventures, and business angels from the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Freterium will utilize the funds to expand its technology and product development throughout Africa and the Middle East, allowing it to serve more businesses. Within the next 12 months, it plans to double the team’s size.
“This US $4 million funding round is an endorsement of our unique model and approach, our team’s capabilities and the tremendous market opportunity. We are grateful for the support of the finest investors that share our vision and our values. The timing is right to scale our product across the region and beyond. For most companies, logistics challenges have become a boardroom conversation. We are already trusted by leaders in their respective industries, and we look forward to putting our product at the disposal of many small and large players that need us,” said Alami.
For the past five years, Cyril Collon, a general partner at Partech, has been closely monitoring the US $250 billion freight transportation business in Africa and the Middle East.
“Eighty-five percent of the volume is carried through established legacy partnerships between shippers and carriers and still run with manual, inefficient tools. Freterium has built a holistic approach to solving the key challenges of the industry,” he said.
“We are excited to support them in their mission to empower manufacturers, retailers and logistics teams across Africa.”
