Egyptian B2B e-commerce marketplaces startup Cartona has secured 12 million USD in new funding round in July

Newsletter

26 Jul 2022

Egyptian B2B e-commerce marketplaces startup Cartona has secured 12 million USD in new funding round in July

Starting our morning with startups and companies talks, Egyptian B2B e-commerce marketplaces startup Cartona has secured 12 million USD in new funding round in July. The financing will be used for investment in technology and promotion of the company’s services to enlarge its market share in Egypt. Top contributors in the new funding round are Silicon Badia and the SANAD Fund, along with Jordanian and Japanese investments. The top executive added that Cartona’s services cover nine governorates and are expected to cover the entire republic by the end of 2023. Cartona is targeting a market share of 40% by the end of next year. (Asharq business)

“Shoofha” platform, an application and website for providing content on demand, announced the conclusion of a cooperation agreement with “Zain Group” in the context of expanding the scope of the platform’s operations to Sudan.
The added value of mobile communications in the Middle East. his partnership provides Zain Group customers with the opportunity to view and have exclusive access to the new content, and the package of services offered by “Shoofha” in Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. In addition, “Shoofha” provides its services in Qatar, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Palestine, and is currently working on plans to expand and reach more customers, as it will soon be available in Turkey, Pakistan and Ivory Coast. (Al Mal)
“Med Bank”: The loan portfolio reaches 9 billion EGP.
The portfolio recorded 5.2 billion EGP at the end of last December, noting that small and medium enterprises are among the most important pillars on which the economies of countries depend, pointing out that they work to provide job opportunities and reduce unemployment. The bank launched the MID GO product to support the small and medium enterprises sector, pointing out that the small and medium enterprises sector witnessed significant growth during the year and a half. (Al Mal)
Orascom Development Egypt (ODE) (ORHD) announced that its subsidiary Orascom for Real Estate (ORE) signed a 1.5 billion EGP facility agreement with Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIB) (COMI).
The secured amount will be used to finance ORE’s projects including O West. Located in the 6th of October City, O West is a major development that offers a variety of amenities and facilities. O West net sales grew 73.6% to EGP 2.4 bn in the first half of the year. The sales accounted for 51.4% of the company’s total sales for 1H 2022. (Al Mal)
The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is targeting doubling financing provided through non-banking activities to 820 billion EGP by 2026 from 370 EGP in 2020 in its Comprehensive Strategy for Non-Banking Financial Actives (2022-2026).
The total contribution of non-listed shares is expected to reach around 43% of the targeting financing by non-banking activities, or about 350 billion EGP. Total contribution by finance lease is anticipated to amount to approximately 18% of targeted financing, or 150 billion EGP. Moreover, the FRA is expecting the total value of securities issuances (excluding shares) to amount to 80 billion EGP by 2026 and consumer finance to record 60 billion EGP by the same year. (EGX)
Moving to our latest Economic and markets talks, Russian grain exporters are committed to their obligations regarding international wheat orders.
Lavrov said that his country took many steps to deepen the economic relations with Egypt across all areas. There are some constructive talks regarding the establishment of a Russian industrial zone in Egypt, Lavrov noted. On July 22nd, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal that will enable Kyiv to resume exports of wheat through the Black Sea. (Reuters)
Egypt is set to increase the prices of metro and train tickets as of August 1st.
The value of the increase has not been decided yet, but it may range between EGP 1 and EGP 2. On July 13th, Egypt’s Fuel Pricing Committee raised the price for a liter of 80-octane gasoline to 8 EGP from 7.50 EGP, while the price of a liter of 92-octane increased to 9.15 EGP from 8.75 EGP, and the price of 95-octane hiked to 10.75 EGP per liter from 9.75 EGP. (Economy Plus)
The Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) wants to invest 500 million USD to expand the capacity of East Port Said port.
The company plans to build a 1k-meter container berth, which is expected to raise the port’s annual capacity by almost 40%. The new berth is expected to have an annual capacity of 2 million TEU. This will significantly expand the port’s current capacity, which stands at 5.4 million TEU a year. The port handled 3.8 million TEUs in 2021, up 3% from 2020. (Arab Finance)
Customs begins implementing the decision to exclude tuk-tuks manufactured entirely within the economic zones from the import ban.
This decision came after a careful study by all concerned agencies, and aims to replace the tuk-tuk with a safe means of transportation, in implementation of the presidential initiative to replace vehicles with clean energy, in particular “natural gas”, as the government aims to provide cars “Minivan” as an alternative to the tuk-tuk. (Al Mal)
The prices of specialized and compound fertilizers and agricultural fertilizers continued to vary in the markets, and a ton of calcium superphosphate recorded 4,500 EGP, and ammonia sulfate 9 thousand to 10.5 thousand EGP per ton.
This type is called a “combined fertilizer” because there are two or more components that make up the variety, unlike monofertilizers such as “urea” and “nitrate”, which consist of one element. Traders mentioned that the price of potassium sulfate ranges from 23 to 30 thousand EGP, and calcium nitrate from 20 to 30 thousand EGP. (Al Mal)