Retailo, a Saudi B2B retail supply chain digitalisation start-up, has scooped up $36 million in a Series A funding round, led by the Silicon Valley-based Graphene Ventures.

The Series A round saw participation from early-stage investor 500 Global, India’s Agility Ventures, Saudi Arabian firm Aujan Group, Tech Invest Com and Mentor’s Fund. 

Partner at Graphene Ventures, Nabil A Borhanu, said: “We are impressed with what Retailo has achieved in an astonishingly short time. Their vision is both ambitious and inspiring and we believe that partnering with them is a sound business investment and also a chance to truly improve the lives of millions of people.”

The start-up intends to use the funding to expand into new geographies, verticals and products.

Founded in 2020 by Talha Ansari, Wahaj Ahmed and Mohammad Nowkhaiz— the former executives of the ride-hailing app Careem — Retailo has raised $45 million in less than 1,5 years since its inception.

The company operates a B2B community commerce platform which is used by more than 50,000 retailers monthly. Recently, Retailo began offering its sellers a cross-border distribution platform across the three biggest markets in the region: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan.

In 2020, Retailo raised $2.3 million in a pre-seed round led by Shorooq Partners- one of the largest pre-seed rounds across Mena, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Retailo enables small businesses to choose from a catalogue of more than 5,000 SKUs which are delivered to their doorsteps in less than 24 hours. 

The business also offers BNPL services to provide flexible payment options and credit lines alongside data analytics services to sellers to help them evaluate sales performance and consumption trends.