Egyptian social commerce platform Brimore has closed a Series A round of funding worth US$25 million, which it will use to grow its product and supplier lists and expand across the continent to become the leading social commerce app in Africa.
Founded in 2017, Brimore has built a platform that leverages the power of individual social networks to enable broad, cost-effective market access. It enables manufacturers to sell their products directly to end consumers through a network of micro-distributors across Egypt.
The startup’s platform, which includes payment and supply chain facilities, serves hundreds of SMEs, which sell thousands of products including packaged foods, personal care, and household goods through tens of thousands of social sellers in all 27 governorates across Egypt.
Brimore raised a US$3.5 million pre-Series A round in 2020, and Disrupt Africa reported in September of last year it had secured investment from e-payments solutions and banking services provider Fawry, Egypt’s first startup “unicorn”, as part of its upcoming Series A round.
The full extent of that round has now been announced, with the US$25 million capital injection led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Endure Capital, and featuring – in addition to Fawry – Flourish and Endeavor Catalyst Fund, as well as existing Brimore investors including Algebra Ventures, Disruptech, Khawarizmi Ventures and Vision Ventures.
Brimore will use the funding to fuel its growth, expanding its network of sellers and suppliers four-fold, doubling its number of employees, and increasing the number of products sold three-fold. By 2023, Brimore aims to operate in three countries and strengthen its physical logistics capabilities.
“In the past three years, we’ve focused on building a smart and reliable infrastructure that enables the masses to do their commerce businesses, wherever they are, and whatever they have,” said Mohamed Abdulaziz, Brimore’s CEO and co-founder. “We’ll be using the fresh fund to scale our infrastructure, enabling many more people to continue their journey of 50x growth by 2023, and opening this gate of hope and opportunity to other people in African markets.”
Walid Labadi, IFC’s country manager for Egypt, said IFC was excited to support Brimore as a leader in social commerce in Egypt.
“This is our largest direct investment in social commerce so far. IFC’s co-lead investment in Brimore aims to help the platform continue to democratise access to e-commerce, increase economic opportunities for women, and support the development of the local manufacturing sector in the country,” he said.
Tarek Fahim, managing partner at Endure Capital, said every decade a company emerged that fused technology, operations excellence, and human capital to “unlock unprecedented impact and value”.
“We are proud to be Brimore’s first and continuous partner in their mission of building the infrastructure and technology for social commerce in Egypt and Africa, to change the lives of their partners, especially women who aspire for a better future for themselves and their families,” he said.
