EGYPT – Egyptian e-grocery marketplace, ON Market has raised US$215,000 pre-seed round from angel investors to expand into major cities in Egypt.

The round was led by Yasser AlGhamdi to help the firm expand into Cairo, Alexandria, Tanta, and Mansoura, as well as scale its technology solutions.

Founded in June 2020 in Tanta, by Moatasem Marzouk, Seif Yasser, Ahmed Najjar, and Moataz Marzouk, ON Market empowers grocery retailers with tech solutions to build and sustain online commerce.

“We develop our products in-house to connect them with the retailers they trust and love, where they can follow their latest offers, pricing updates, and product availability,” said Moatasem Marzouk, the co-founder and CEO of ON Market.

According to Marzouk, out of 200+ customers surveyed 90% prefer to get all their orders at once even if it will take more delivery time.

The firm expansion will benefit from the huge grocery market in Egypt valued at around US$35 billion and is expected to grow from 15% to 20% over the next three years.

The North African country’s retail food market is still dominated by small, privately-held stores despite being the largest consumer market and most diversified economy in the Arab world.

Traditional grocery stores are still leading the country’s retail food sector, representing 98% of total outlets and around 75% of total sales, though supermarket chains, convenience stores, and online retailing platforms are growing in number and popularity.

Modern retail channels, such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores, have a combined 3,913 outlets, compared to traditional grocery retailers which have more than 113,720.

The trend in retailing is however changing with advancements in technology not only in Egypt but in every part of the continent.

Start-ups such as ON Market are increasingly being set up to enable fast, efficient, and affordable retailing services.

Influenced by the global market boom in online groceries, the market in Egypt is growing drastically, has attracted more than US$150 million in investments for the year 2021, and is expected to attract more investments in the next coming years.

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