Appetito, a warehousing and last-mile delivery startup that is based in Egypt, has closed a $2 million pre-Series A investment round.
The funding round was piloted by Jedar Capital, with additional participation from Golden Palm investments, DFS Lab, and a group of angel investors and family offices in the region.
Appetito will use the funding to grow its network of dark stores, and improve its product features and tech stack.
Appetito was launched in 2020, and it gets its products directly from Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturers, stores the products in its warehouses and dark stores, and then delivers the products to household customers. Its customers get their products in less than 60 minutes.
Speaking on the startup’s services and technology, Appetito’s CEO and co-founder, Shehab Mokhtar, said:
“Through our technology, we are able to cut the middlemen who take out a decent margin of sold products and provide not only a convenient experience to our customers but also an affordable one as we compete on prices because we buy in bulk and sell at retail prices,”
He further talked about the FMCG retail market which is estimated to be worth about $60bn – 80% traditional and 20% modern trade led by e-commerce-enabled large supermarket chains and hypermarkets.
“The grocery market is very fragmented and there is a huge inefficiency in the supply chain itself. In order for any company to deliver its products to the consumer, they have to go through a network of wholesalers, distributors until the product reaches the retailers and then the final end-user in each chain. This inevitably results in an increase in the product prices, we look to change that.”
Appetito works with brands like Coca-Cola, Procter and Gamble, Henkel, etc.
The startup currently has seven dark stores and plans to double the number by the end of 2022 while also expanding internationally.
