E-commerce startup Teegara has successfully closed a five-figure USD bridge round led by Alexandria Angels Network, with participation from new angel investors in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Netherlands, CEO and co-founder Ahmed Kayyali told Enterprise.

What is Teegara? Teegara’s B2B online marketplace connects merchants with vendors of household products and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), offering multiple payment methods and shipping options to streamline the buying process. It also extends credit and other financial services to small merchants through various partners, and expects to sign a fresh partnership agreement with super-app MNT-Halan by next week, Kayyali said.

Where the money’s going: The round will be put towards Teegara’s expansion plans, helping it add more verticals to its platform, hire sales and operations talent, and build its technical capabilities, according to a press release (pdf) announcing the funding. Teegara last year closed a five-figure pre-seed round led by Alex Angels and angel investors from KSA, Egypt and the Netherlands.

Teegara is preparing to raise a seed round sometime during 2H 2022, when it hopes to raise funding to expand beyond Cairo and Giza to the Nile Delta and northern Upper Egypt over a six-month period, Kayyali said. The startup also wants to onboard 10k merchants by the end of the year, he said, without disclosing the number of merchants currently registered on the platform.

The startup will be looking at potentially expanding outside of Egypt starting 2024, when it expects to begin raising its pre-series A round, Kayyali told us.

IN OTHER STARTUP NEWS-

PayTabs Egypt launches social commerce platform with Paymes: EFG Hermes e-payments subsidiary PayTabs Egypt is partnering with social commerce payment platform Paymes to allow micro merchants in the MENA region to receive payments through social media platforms, the company announced in a statement (pdf). Paymes will serve as PayTabs Egypt’s’ social commerce platform. PayTabs has plans to launch in the UAE and Saudi Arabia soon, PayTabs CEO and founder Abdulaziz Al Jouf said in the statement.

The partnership: Paymes said last month that it is merging with PayTabs (not the Egypt arm in which EFG Hermes is a partner, but the parent company founded in Saudi Arabia), allowing its social commerce products to be offered to PayTabs’ clients in the MENA region. Paymes’ Turkey office will serve as the administrative center of PayTabs’ Eurasian operations. Paymes’ website now identifies itself as “a PayTabs company.”

How will the new payment system work? Egypt-based micro merchants and freelancers will be able to offer their products or services through their digital Paymes store windows, while sellers can share secure payment links across social media platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, according to the statement. The service targets the more than 14 mn existing freelancers, home-based business owners, consultants, food truck vendors, and gig workers in Egypt, the statement says.

PayTabs Egypt was recognized as the best e-payment solution in MENA at Entrepreneur Middle East’s 2021 fintech awards. The B2B payment powerhouse offers digital payment solutions including one-click payments and merchant solutions.