MaxAB, an Egyptian retail-tech startup, has acquired Moroccan counterpart WaystoCap as it plans to expand into the Maghreb region after raising an additional US$15 million in a Series A round last month.
MaxAB is a B2B e-commerce platform that connects food and grocery retailers to suppliers in Egypt’s most underserved geographies, founded in 2018 by Egyptian and Libyan entrepreneurs Belal El-Megharbel and Mohamed Ben Halim.
The company serves a network of traditional retailers throughout Egypt, utilizing empowering technologies and innovative supply chains to help place the right amount of food and groceries in the right place at the right time. It has so far supplied over 55,000 retailers, fulfilled over one million orders, and grown more than fivefold year on year.
MaxAB secured US$40 million in Series A funding in July, and it has now raised an additional US$15 million, bringing its total secured funding to US$60 million. It also announced the acquisition of WaystoCap, a B2B e-commerce and distribution platform based in Morocco that connects retailers with suppliers across Africa.
WaystoCap, founded in 2017, was the first Moroccan startup to participate in the Y Combinator accelerator, and has since grown to become one of Morocco’s largest and leading B2B platforms, with a network of 8,000 retailers and a presence in West African cities.
MaxAB will accelerate its expansion into the Maghreb market as a result of the acquisition, aided by WaystoCap’s regional expertise. MaxAB’s technology, expanded end-to-end supply chain solutions, and business intelligence tools, as well as WaystoCap’s knowledge and expertise, will now be available to the retailers and suppliers served by both companies. With MaxAB’s acquisition, more than 70,000 retailers in multiple markets will now be supplied with essential food and groceries.
“We are about to take the food and grocery industry to another level in North Africa. The creation of this new super-team, combining a powerhouse of talent, technological know-how, on the ground infrastructure, boosted supply chains and WaystoCap’s phenomenal experience of the region is very exciting. We have a long-standing and excellent working relationship with WaystoCap and share a common vision to re-engineer the traditional food and grocery market to better serve traditional retailers,” said El-Megharbel.
MaxAB is entering the Maghreb market for the first time, and this new strategic acquisition will position the expanded team as North Africa’s leading B2B e-commerce platform for retailers and suppliers. Morocco’s growing tech hub has enormous potential, and the acquisition of WaystoCap allows MaxAB to become a truly global team with a focused local approach, putting the company on track to become the leading B2B retail and grocery platform in the Middle East and Africa.
According to Niama El Bassunie, CEO and founder of WaystoCap, Morocco is an exciting and fast-growing market, with entrepreneurs developing novel solutions to some of the region’s key day-to-day challenges
“We are thrilled to play a pivotal role in the new all-star team being created and led by experienced, innovative entrepreneurs to establish a regional market leader in food and grocery supply. We are looking forward to continuing our close working relationship with our new team and taking the business to its next phase,” she said.