Riyadh-headquartered B2B ecommerce startup Retailo has come out of stealth today with the announcement of $2.3 million in a pre-seed round led by Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners. 500 Durian (the 500 Startups fund for Southeast Asia) and 92 Ventures also participated in the round along with angels from ‘region’s top startups and leading management consulting firms’. According to our data, it is the second-largest pre-seed round raised by a startup in the Middle East, North Africa & Pakistan, and the largest for a startup that’s headquartered in Saudi.
Founded just a few months ago by Talha Ansari, Muhammad Nowkhaiz, and Wahaj Ahmed; who previously worked with Careem, Rocket Internet, Daraz, and McKinsey, Retailo wants to empower over 10 million SMEs in the retail sector of the Middle East, North Africa & Pakistan with the use of technology and real-time data. Its marketplace enables will enable the retailer to procure inventory for their stores.
Retailo is starting with small grocery stores in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan which it says is a $100 billion opportunity. It had apparently launched in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi a few months ago and has recently launched in Riyadh too. The startup said that it will focus on Saudi as its home market.
“Retailo’s technology and operations combine to deliver a strong value proposition to retailers, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers. It is focused on offering SMEs competitive pricing; a one-stop-shop to discover products and the ability to order whatever they need, whenever they need,” said the startup in a statement.
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