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Monday, 7 June 2021

E-commerce platform Tejarra and fintech player MoneyHash raise separate six-figure USD rounds

Egyptian e-commerce platform Tejarra.com has raised a six-figure USD seed investment from venture capital firm Openner, according to a press release (pdf). Openner will provide technical support, expertise, and other resources to help “the platform’s marketing and sales operations as well as its market success and positioning” through a so-called “venture building” model.

About the company: Launched in January by CEO Islam Erfan (LinkedIn), Tejarra is a consumer electronics marketplace that has attracted more than 50 vendors to its platform offering more than 18k products. The startup wants to grow sales to EGP 100 mn by the end of the year and will focus on both B2C and B2B transactions.

Openner is getting more involved in the Egyptian tech scene, announcing in October that it would invest USD 5 mn into as many as 50 Egyptian tech startups over the next two years. The Washington-based, Middle East and Africa-focused VC outfit bills itself as a “venture builder” as it both invests in and works closely to help startup founders implement ideas on the ground.

Check out this afternoon’s edition of Enterprise PM for our exclusive sit-down with Openner’s Egypt managing director, Ahmed ElSherif, who spoke to us about Openner’s approach, what it has in store, and how the “venture building” model might just be what venture capital in Egypt needs.

ALSO FROM PLANET STARTUP-

Fintech startup MoneyHash has closed a six-figure USD pre-seed round led by COTU Ventures, with participation from the Ventures Platform, Kepple Africa Ventures, and angel investors, the company announced in a statement.

About MoneyHash: Founded by Egyptians Nader Abdelrazik and Mustafa Eid as well as American Anisha Sekar last year, the US-based company is developing a unified platform that allows companies to offer customers payment and fintech services at checkout as well as to collect data and track analytics through a single dashboard. The company plans to launch in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and be up and running “in various countries” in the Middle East and Africa by 2022.

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