Cairo-based e-commerce shipping startup, ShipBlu has reportedly raised USD 2.4 million in a seed funding round led by Nama Ventures. Other investors that participated in the fundraising included Y-combinator, Orange Ventures, Starling Ventures, and other angel investors. 

According to the company, the fresh funds will be used to expand its service offerings and reach in Egypt.

It is worth mentioning here that the firm was founded in 2020 by Ali Nasser, Abdelrahman Hosny, and Ahmed EIKawass. It provides a delivery and fulfillment model which distributes parcels from all kinds of retailers and merchants to customers in Egypt.

As online payments grew in popularity around the world and in Egypt, Nasser and the other co-founders decided to start ShipBlu after learning that the market for last-mile delivery in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is worth more than USD 3.1 billion per year.

According to its Y Combinator profile, ShipBlu signed up more than 40 merchants during its first month.  Since then, the company has doubled its clients while tripling the revenues. Nasser also intends ShipBlu's network and infrastructure to cover 99% of Egypt's population within the next few months.

According to the CEO, ShipBlu's ultimate goal is to allow customers to select a three-hour delivery window for their products and know when to expect them, which is in contrast to how most traditional e-commerce fulfillment companies operate.

To set itself apart from the competition, ShipBlu claims to have created AI and machine learning algorithms to lower costs, meet delivery limitations, and optimize its operational assumptions.

In Egypt, ShipBlu competes with companies like Flextock and Bosta. After completing its seed financing, the company now has a mutual investor in Flexport, the billion-dollar freight and logistics company that YC financed in 2014.

Source credits:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/31/shipblu-bags-2-4m-for-its-e-commerce-and-fulfilment-service-in-egypt/