Egyptian B2B platform, Cartona has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Jordan and an American early-stage venture capital company, Silicon Badia. Other participants include the impact investing funds for the Middle East and North Africa, SANAD Fund for MSME, the Arab Bank Accelerator and Sunny Side Ventures.

This round also saw participation from previous investors who also took part in an investment round of $4.5 million for the company barely a year ago - investors like Global Ventures and Kepple Ventures who increased their stake with this new round.

According to the startup, this funding will enable the company to expand its product, technology, and services to serve all of Egypt’s governorates while also investigating additional industry verticals outside FMCG.

Founded in 2020, Cartona runs a market with only a few assets belonging to the company - the company doesn’t own any goods or vehicles on its platform. However, customers have complained about this model on both sides of the platform.

Chief Executive Officer of Cartona, Mahmoud Talaat, however, claimed that as such, Cartona had to concentrate more on its technical integrations with significant manufacturers and their warehouses, which has increased the company’s potential for growth.

He said that with these connections, Cartona could scale its integrated finance offering while pursuing capital efficiency and growth.

The tipping point of B2B e-commerce and retail marketplaces in Africa is lending money, working capital, or BNPL to micro and small firms. But they do it differently.

According to CTO Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, Cartona stands out in Egypt’s competitive market by incorporating BNPL services directly into its marketplace operations, as opposed to using a third-party supplier like asset-heavy MaxAB or hybrid model Capiter.

Therefore, unlike other platforms, Cartona enables small firms to return their debts whenever a shipment of goods is made, as opposed to making them do so each month with interest.

The business runs a market with few assets and doesn’t own any goods or vehicles. Customers have complained about this model on both sides of the platform.

Talaat claimed that as such, Cartona had to concentrate more on its technical integrations with significant manufacturers and their warehouses, which has increased the company’s potential for growth.

He said that with these connections, Cartona could scale its integrated finance offering while pursuing capital efficiency and growth.

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Currently, Cartona makes loans from its balance sheet. However, the company’s leaders claim that by January of the following year, they anticipate receiving some credit lines and venture loans from domestic and foreign partners.

At the end of the previous year, Cartona handled over 400,000 orders from over 30,000 merchants, with an annual gross merchandise value of EGP 1 billion (about $64 million). Since then, some of its figures have increased.

According to Talaat, the startup now provides services to more than 60,000 merchants and has handled more than 1 million transactions with an annual gross merchandise worth of EGP 2.3 billion (about $120 million).

On its platform, Cartona has more than 1,500 wholesalers and distributors as well as 200 FMCG firms, including well-known brands like Unilever and Henkel. These figures surpass the 1,000 distributors, wholesalers, and 100 FMCG businesses from last September.

According to the founders, the goal of creating Cartona is to make it a better technological partner for major FMCG companies.

The firm began with large FMCGs, but everyone, including multinationals, is attracted because they now recognize its value, according to Abdel-Fattah, the executive in charge of overseeing these technical integrations.

They are not being outbid by Cartona, and their prices are not being lowered. The startup does not subsidize its products, unlike some of its rivals. Making the procedure easy is important because all it does is link them up with the retailer.