• Saudi Arabia-based B2B e-commerce marketplace Retailo, has raised a $6.7 million seed round, co-led by Shorooq Partners and Abercross Holdings, with participation from AgFunder and Arzan Venture Capital.
• Co-founded in 2020 by Talha Ansari, Mohammad Nowkhaiz and Wahaj Ahmed, Retailo provides a one-stop-shop for SMEs and small retailers, enabling them to discover and procure products for their stores. 
• The startup will utilise the investment to expand its reach in existing markets, grow its team, and enhance its product. 
• In October, a month after its launch, Retailo raised $2.3 million in a pre-seed round, led by Shorooq Partners, with participation from 500 Startups and 92-Ventures.

Press release

Retailo, a Saudi Arabia-based B2B marketplace has successfully closed a $6.7M Seed investment round, co-led by Shorooq Partners and Abercross Holdings, with participation from AgFunder and Arzan Venture Capital.

Headquartered in Riyadh, Retailo was founded in 2020 by former Careem leaders Talha Ansari, Muhammad Nowkhaiz and Wahaj Ahmed, and the startup's senior leadership comprises of a diverse mix of people with experience from Careem, McKinsey, Rocket Internet, Amazon, Ebay, Dubizzle, Daraz, and Foodpanda.

In just a few months, the company has already expanded to two key markets in the MENAP region and is set to become a major regional player in the B2B E-commerce space. Today, Retailo serves tens of thousands of retailers, has thousands of SKUs in its portfolio and a growing team of over 400.

Retailo’s founding team have always been keen on partnering with strategic investors that can add value beyond capital and support their ambitious journey. Shorooq Partners, lead for both rounds, as part of their early-stage MENA focused mandate, are strongly committed to the team and their B2B services platform investment thesis. Along with UK’s Abercross Holdings, which is backed by Saudi family offices, Silicon Valley’s AgFunder, and Middle East-based Arzan Venture Capital, Retailo’s seed round brings together a strong investor base with deep regional roots and a strong global reach. Along with institutional investors, key individual investors also include Junaid Iqbal, former MD of Careem Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who also serves as an advisor to the Retailo Team.

Issam Hamid, Managing Partner of Abercross Holdings commented “Abercross is pleased to partner with the Retailo team in building a modern, efficient, technology led supply chain across the Middle East and Pakistan region which will bring real benefits to hundreds of thousands of consumers and small retailers''.

Michael Dean, Founding Partner, AgFunder was equally excited about investing in Retailo "Informal retail is an extremely large market that is the backbone of employment and consumer spending in the MENAP region. We were impressed by the Retailo team's blend of experience and domain expertise and their ability to leverage technology to build a compelling and fast-growing B2B Ecommerce Marketplace to service these markets."

Retailo co-founder Talha Ansari remarked, “With this investment, Retailo is geared for hyper-growth to rapidly build on what we have already achieved in a short time. The current round of $6.7 million will not only help us expand our existing verticals across MENAP but also build new, much-needed technology products for the highly underserved SME market and bring us closer to achieving our grand vision of unlocking the earning potential of 10 million SMEs.

The startup will utilise the investment to expand reach in existing markets, keep growing its team, and further improve upon its products.