Tunis-based peer-to-peer (P2P) fashion marketplace Dabchy has raised a US$300,000 seed round to expand its team and grow its regional footprint to other MENA countries.
Founded by Amani Mansouri, Ghazi Ketata and Oussama Mahjoub in 2016, Dabchy is an online platform that allows users to buy and sell pre-used and new clothes online. The startup has a community of over 400,000 users in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, while its Android app has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
It has now raised a seed funding round of US$300,000 led by 500 Startups and joined by Flat6Labs, Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), Khobar-based Vision Ventures and Daal Venture Capital, plus a group of angel investors, to expand its operations.
“With this investment, Dabchy will accelerate its investment in product development, expand its team and regional footprint, and scale our platform to continue to make it easier for our users to buy and sell,” said Mansouri.
“At Dabchy, we operate as a trusted third party between buyers and sellers and have facilitated more than 100,000 transactions to date. Our ambition is to become the number one fashion marketplace in the region and to empower a new generation of women to become microentrepreneurs by creating their own businesses online and to take a lead role in sustainability.”
Hasan Haider, partner at 500 Startups, said he was pleased to back the team behind Dabchy, which represented the company’s first investment in the Tunisian market.
“What the team have managed to achieve so far has been amazing, and we look forward to Dabchy continuing to lead the way for used fashion online in North Africa. There is a significant market need and demand for the product, and that has already been demonstrated by their traction so far,” he said.
Dabchy is also the first Tunisian investment for Vision Ventures, which founding partner Kais Al-Essa said had been eyeing the North African market beyond Egypt for some time.
“This market is starting to boom and the community is your and tech savvy. Dabchy’s business model proved to be needed in the market with a limited investment, we expect it will dominate soon with further investment especially in the leadership of the talented Amani Mansouri,” Al-Essa said.
