• UAE-based quick-commerce startup YallaMarket has raised $2.2 million in a bridge round from Doha Tech Angels, Flyer One Ventures and AngelsDeck, after a $2.3 million pre-Seed round led by Wamda and Dubai Angel Investors in November 2021.
• Founded in 2021 by Leo Dovbenko and Stas Seleznev, YallaMarket delivers groceries and other goods of daily demand to customers for free in 15 minutes through dark stores across Dubai, UAE.
• The funding will be used to expand the presence of the company in the UAE by opening new dark stores in Dubai and other GCC countries.

Press release:

Dubai-based 15-min grocery delivery service YallaMarket raises $2.2 million in bridge round with the participation of Doha Tech Angels, Flyer One Ventures and AngelsDeck.

The bridge round is coming after the closing of the first $2.3 million pre-Seed round by Wamda and Dubai Angel Investors in November 2021. With the new funding, YallaMarket financing has passed the $5 million mark in less than three months.

The funding will be used to expand the presence of the company in the UAE by opening new dark stores in Dubai prior to the next financing round, which is scheduled for March 2022.  

Since the first funding round YallaMarket has increased revenue and the number of daily orders fourfold — on average the YallaMarket client makes 1.5 orders per week. The startup also reached 2.5x growth in app installs compared to November.

The delivery area was expanded by new dark stores in Dubai Marina and DSO areas.

“The developments of the last two months proved that entering the UAE market was the right thing to do. Daily orders growth validates that MENA consumers need instant grocery delivery to save their time. The interest from the established international companies also confirms that the region's q-commerce market will be driven by the grocery segment”, says Leo Dovbenko, YallaMarket СEO and Co-Founder.

According to the recent Redseer research, the Mena Q-commerce market is expected to grow by 24 per cent to reach $20 billion by 2024. The region is a global leader in quick commerce, contributing 20 per cent to Mena’s digital economy.

The food delivery share, which accounted for 83% in 2021, is going to drop to 55% by 2030, while groceries are expected to have a market share of 14 per cent, 21 per cent and 31 per cent in 2021, 2024 and 2030 respectively (starting from a tiny 2 per cent in 2018), Redseer said.

“The UAE is actively implementing technology in all areas of life, so this is a promising market for projects that AngelsDeck is focused on. Already now we can say that MENA has the potential to become one of the leaders of the grocery delivery in the 10-15 minutes segment. Therefore, we are very pleased to become a partner of YallaMarket, which is the first hyper-local delivery service in the UAE, and we believe that the project has a great future” comments Igor Kaloshin, CEO of AngelsDeck.

By the end of the year, YallaMarket plans to launch 100 new stores across the UAE and to enter Qatar.