• Saudi Arabia-based marketplace Qawafel, has raised a $3 million Seed round, co-led by AlSayed Group and Khwarizmi Ventures, in addition to several angel investors.
• Founded in 2020 by Turki AlAyyad, Walid Al-Ghobain and Qays Bahurmuz, the B2B marketplace links suppliers to buyers of perishable food products across the kingdom in the confectionery and refrigerated market.
• Qawafel plans to use the funding to enhance its growth, improve and create new products and services, as well as enter new sectors and markets by the end of 2022, such as the frozen food industry.

Press release:

Saudi Arabia’s Qawafel, a B2B marketplace simplifying trade between buyers and suppliers of perishable food products across the Kingdom, has closed its first investment round (Seed) of $3 million, co-led by AlSayed Group and Khwarizmi Ventures, in addition to a number of angel investors.

Qawafel is a B2B tech-enabled company linking suppliers to various buyers and points of sale in the confectionery and refrigerated market. It provides integrated technical solutions aimed at enhancing the fragmented wholesale market through a full-stack B2B platform and digital services, offering a seamless user experience for both customers and vendors when managing operations. This in turn contributes to promoting local production and raising the efficiency of the market's supply chains through seamless last-mile delivery and payments collections.

Headquartered in Riyadh, Qawafel started its business in the confectionery space during the last quarter of 2020 by co-founders Turki AlAyyad (CEO), Walid Al-Ghobain (Chief Partnership Officer), and Qays Bahurmuz (Chief Product & Technology Officer). Today Qawafel serves more than 5000 points of sale in more than 188 cities and towns in Saudi Arabia and has maintained a sales growth rate of 30% per month; a testimony to seamless customer experience and trust.

Mr Turki AlAyyad, CEO of Qawafel, commented in this regard saying: “Qawafel started in the confectionery and chocolate market, where sales are estimated at SAR5 billion annually and acquired approximately 1% of the Saudi market in a short period as 500 tons of chocolate were processed and passed around the cities of the Kingdom. We aim to expand vertically in the confectionery sector in general, where annual sales exceed SAR20 billion.”

Qawafel provides a “market data” service that aims to help and support small factories in the process of creating and innovating new products. The company has successfully enabled more than 300 local factories, which has contributed to increasing the average rate of orders in these factories. Qawafel plans to use the funding across the operation and growth of its business, R&D to improve and create new products and services, as well as enter new sectors and markets by the end of 2022, such as the frozen food industry.

"Qawafel's vision is to provide the needed technical and logistical solutions to move the chilled food wholesale market to e-commerce and to enable small family businesses and shop owners to expand and have a presence in new areas. By achieving this, Qawafel aims to support locally made products and contribute to enhancing aspects around national food security," added Turki AlAyyad.

Abdulaziz Al-Turki, the Managing Partner at Khwarizmi Ventures, further commented: “The HoReCa space is exhibiting constant growth and high activity. Turki and the Qawafel team are dedicating great efforts in defragmenting the confectionery wholesale market, easing supply chain management for both buyers and suppliers, and creating great positive local impact.”