EGYPT – Sharwa, a social ecommerce platform, has announced the completion of a US$2 million pre-seed investment round to further build the technological platform and expand the team.

Nuwa Capital and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund co-led the round, joined by many key angel investors.

Founded in 2022 by Alaa Shalaby, Hassan Elshourbagi and Mohamed Hanafy, Sharwa offers customers low prices on around 1,000 grocery and household items, with huge discounts available on bulk orders and next-day delivery available.

In order to access wholesale prices from manufacturers for next-day delivery, customers can group their baskets into a group order and place it through Sharwa using WhatsApp or directly on the company’s app.

“The experience we aim to deliver is similar to going to a hypermarket with family; one person is pushing around the same cart and everyone is able to throw things in.

“In our model, you all benefit from the low prices unlocked. Our customers love our service as a tool to help them fight inflation,” Alaa Shalaby, Chief Executive Officer, said.

Sharwa collaborates with area community leaders who have utilised the programme as Super Users to collect orders in remote places.

Products can be purchased by individuals or groups of people at two price points. When a customer invites someone to shop with them or joins an existing group formed by other customers, discounts that are up to 40% off of retail pricing become available.

“We’re excited to support a platform like Sharwa, which has identified a key challenge for today’s consumers in Egypt and is addressing it by leveraging technology and social connection,” Hambro Perks Oryx Fund’s Ivo Detelinov said.

“The leadership team has proven experience at innovative and successful consumer businesses in the region and we look forward to seeing how they grow the Sharwa platform.”

The startup has acquired considerable traction since it was founded. Since its launch, Sharwa has experienced rapid growth, drawing tens of thousands of customers to its platform.

The service is operational in Cairo and the surrounding areas, and an expansion plan covering the next 12 months will allow it to serve the rest of Egypt and handle hundreds of thousands of orders.

The Sharwa team also has considerable experience in the industry from Kitopi, Careem, Halan, Capiter, and Delivery Hero’s Hungerstation in strategy, market expansion, operations, and product.

“We empower local manufacturers to reach as many customers as possible in a data-driven way, with the goal of achieving the most streamlined supply chain.

“We have built an end-to-end value chain sourcing from manufacturers and delivering to customers, letting manufacturers focus on what they do best,” Hassan El Shourbagi, Chief Operating Officer, said.

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