Sharwa, Egyptian-based social commerce platform, closed a pre-seed funding round worth $2 million, led by Nuwa Capital, Hambro Perks Oryx Fund and other angel investors.
The company will use the investment to continually develop its platform and expand its workforce.
Founded earlier this year, Sharwa aims to bridge the gap between the country’s high social media usage and low e-commerce adoption.
“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,” said Ivo Detelinov, general partner at Hambro Perks Oryx Fund.
With inflationary pressures increasing prices of daily household essentials, such as groceries, appliances and homecare items, the platform aims to offer customers affordable, wholesale prices and next-day delivery of products directly from manufacturers.
“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,” said Hassan El Shourbagi, COO of Sharwa.
“We have built an end-to-end value chain sourcing from manufacturers and delivering to customers, letting manufacturers focus on what they do best.”
Customers can either individually purchase products or do so as part of a group by joining existing groups or creating their own.
Products can be up to 40 per cent cheaper when joining or inviting others to a group.
Shoppers can then combine their carts and place orders through WhatsApp or Sharwa’s mobile application.
“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,” said Alaa Shalaby, CEO of Sharwa.
“In our model, you all benefit from the cheap prices unlocked. Our customers love our service as a tool to help them fight inflation.”
Currently, Sharwa caters to tens of thousands of shoppers in Cairo and surrounding areas.
The platform aims to process hundreds of thousands of orders and deliver to the rest of country in the next 12 months.
“The leadership team has proven experience at innovative and successful consumer business in the region and we look forward to seeing how they grow the Sharwa platform,” Mr Detelinov added.
Sales made through social and communications media could account for 40 per cent of the region’s total retail market, which is valued at $1 trillion, according to the C-Commerce MENA Report 2022 by Zbooni.
Twenty per cent of shoppers in the region have made purchases through social media or messaging channels, such as WhatsApp, said the report.
While the sales conversion rate on e-commerce marketplaces was calculated to be 2.86 per cent, social media commerce sales showed an 84.9 per cent conversion rate.
Zbooni estimates that social media commerce will benefit over 20 million micro, small and medium enterprises.
