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Thursday, 3 November 2022

Emirati tech company acquires Speed’s FMCG app

The Speed app has new Emirati owners: Emirati logistics and tech company X-ERA has acquired B2B e-commerce platform Speed for an undisclosed sum, it said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. X-ERA will revamp the Speed app to make it more user-friendly and introduce new features for businesses selling fast-moving consumer goods.

Speed: The one-stop-shop lets small and medium-sized grocery store owners order inventory for delivery within 24 hours. The app is affiliated with the wider Speed brand, which works in FMCG distribution, warehousing, logistics, packing and import.

About the new owners: Founded in 2020, X-ERA invests in digital retail supply chain and logistics solutions that help develop the informal market, according to the statement.

A rebrand and major expansion is in the works: X-ERA plans to rebrand the Speed app and wants to expand its current user base from 35k merchants to 100k by mid-2023, X-ERA CEO Mahmoud El Enani said in the statement.

CATALYST FUNDS CLOSE TO FIRST ACQUISITION-

Impact investor Catalyst Partners’ Catalyst Capital Egypt Fund is close to closing an acquisition deal — a company that has developed a platform for operating electric motorcycles named BluEV, the fund’s Managing Director Abdel Aziz Abdel Nabi told Enterprise. Abdel Nabi did not provide details on the stake or the size of the transaction, but said that the acquisition is being done in collaboration with the UN Development Program.

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