Egyptian ecom enabler zVendo, gaming marketplace Gamesbandy raise funding
Ecommerce enabler zVendo and gaming marketplace Gamesbandy have secured early-stage funding, joining at least half a dozen Egyptian startups to raise capital this month.
Heliopolis-based zVendo said it has raised a pre-Series A funding round from Mobica and Gratus Holding. It didn’t disclose the amount.
This comes less than three months after getting a seed funding cheque. In March, the company had raised ‘six-figure’ seed funding from Egyptian venture capital firm EFG EV Fintech and angel investors it didn’t identify.
zVendo and Gamesbandy join a growing number of Egyptian startups to raise funding from venture capital investors. In May alone, at least six other startups have secured VC backing. These include agri-tech firm Mozare3, professional networking app Tays, furniture e-tailer Homzmart, ecommerce logistics startup Bosta and fintech firm Telda.
zVendo was founded in 2018 by Sameh Abdel Fattah, who is the CTO, and Tarek Bakry, its CEO. The two were also the primary founders of e-commerce solutions company Business Boomers.
zVendo is an e-commerce software-as-a-service platform that enables businesses to start selling online through various sales channels. It allows businesses to loop payments for an online store to a mobile app and point of sale (PoS) systems besides integrating product feeds for social media platforms, marketplaces, and product aggregators.
Bakry said the startup will use the fresh investment to add more capabilities to the platform, including integration points for shipping and payments and for regional expansion in the GCC area.
Bishoy Azmy, founder of Gratus Holding and CEO of ACGC, said: “We see zVendo as the Shopify of the Middle East, having great potential in the region.”
With a single dashboard view, zVendo provides detailed sales and customer reports, along with marketing and e-commerce tools and integrations with different enterprise resource planning and similar systems.
The company provides multiple subscription-based packages to support businesses of all sizes. Ranging between freemium and full-fledged features, they include over 20 ready-made payment and shipping integrations. The Arabic language is available to online stores as a free feature to all packages.
zVendo has also started to expand overseas with the UAE and Saudi Arabia as the key destinations, besides other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Gamesbandy
Meanwhile, Gamesbandy has secured an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Flat6labs Bahrain and Tamkeen.
The startup allows gamers to trade accounts and even in-game items, including virtual currency. It earns a commission on such transactions.
Besides virtual goods, users can also sell their active gaming account where they have crossed higher levels to others who would otherwise have to navigate through early stages of the game.
The venture was started last year by Abdulrhman AboShamah, who had worked as a graphic designer and then had short stints in the marketing field.
Gamesbandy will use the money to improve its platform, support more games and invest in marketing to grow the user base.
