Egyptian startup Shahbandr is helping the next generation of merchants to build and grow online businesses via its SaaS-based e-commerce platform.
Formed in May 2021, Shahbandr is a one-stop solution to help merchants to build, start, sell, manage and grow an online business in the e-commerce industry.
“We have hands-on experience in both web-building and e-commerce business, with the rise of the SaaS model, the pandemic, and growing market need, we decided to start the platform,” Shady Abdelshaheed, the startup’s co-founder and CEO, told Disrupt Africa.
Shahbandr launched its MVP with Taager.com in September 2021, before officially launching to the public last January. It currently has an active user base of over 150 paying customers, and has fulfilled more than 150,000 orders. Abdelshaheed said its goal is to become the number one e-commerce platform in the region.
“More than 78 per cent of Egyptians are now online and want to buy, but 78 per cent of local merchants still need to embrace online tools to bring them into this competitive marketplace,” he said.
“Only 22 per cent of Egyptian merchants have online stores, and there are fewer across the MENA region. Present providers lack full integration and do not offer a complete one-stop-shop.”
Shahbandr does, and having secured angel investment at the time of its launch is now looking to raise a pre-seed round to support its growth into the Saudi market. The startup makes revenues via its multi-layer SaaS subscription model, with customers paying monthly or yearly for a variety of packages. It also monetises from add-ons and commissions.
“We offer a Business in a Box solution that is ready to go, yet some merchants prefer us to enable some or all ingredients. We do that as an add-on to revenue,” Abdelshaheed said. “We also receive commissions from providing our clients with partner products and services.”
