Gahez, an Egypt-based e-commerce startup and B2B fashion platform, has raised $2 million in its latest round of funding. Disruptech Ventures led the pre-Seed round, which included Egypt Ventures, Tanmeyah (an EFG Hermes company), Afropreneur Fund, and other strategic angel investors.
Gahez is an online marketplace that launched around the end of 2021 with the goal of transforming the wholesale distribution platform by streamlining the process between retailers and manufacturers, resulting in a better online trading cycle. Gahez has successfully unburdened fashion retailers from current procurement inefficiency and obstacles by using a data-driven approach that has facilitated their selection of products and sourcing options.
Gahez also offers credit to retailers, making the collection process easier while handling payment settlement with suppliers through third-party aggregators.
Manufacturers and brands now have direct access to thousands of traders, allowing them to increase their margins and attract new types of buyers without having to worry about the logistics of their business. Gahez’s platform helps manufacturers and brands streamline their operations by delivering powerful sales, marketing, and analytics tools, allowing them to focus on creating the appropriate goods and expanding their business.
Gahez has grown its footprint to 16 governorates across the country since its launch in 2021, onboarding over 15,000 retailers, 142 manufacturers, and over 4,000 SKUs (Gahez’s SKU is a wholesale set of sizes and colors) onto their platform, with a focus on brick-and-mortar stores, online sellers, and street vendors.
Industry veteran and Gahez co-founder/CEO Wael Olama reflected on their expansion and growth, “We are on a mission to revolutionise the way retailers shop for their stores by relieving the stress of managing and sourcing. We believe that the Egyptian/African apparel market is untapped and widely fragmented, which provides Gahez with the perfect opportunity (relying on technology) to scale and position itself within the sphere. The market size of apparel in Egypt amounts to $24 billion rendering the market potential infinite. Alongside, Egypt’s exports around $2 billion worth of apparel mostly to the US and EU markets, there’s a huge potential for growth in the African markets, and this can happen rapidly only through the digital world.”
Gahez is tapping into the vast underserved market of street resellers by providing them with smaller ticket-size transactions, allowing them to expand their trading capabilities and enhance their margins and variety. Gahez will accelerate its growth and geographical expansion within the region in response to significant demand from neighboring African countries. The Egypt-based startup will use its newly raised funds in developing world-class technology and hiring top talent, allowing Gahez to serve all of its target customer segments and expand in the future.
Mohamed Okasha, Disruptech Managing Partner concluded, “We are excited to support Gahez’s business expansion plan through our board seat and strategic input. The team is paving the way to digitising the region’s fashion wholesale market. With this investment, I am certain that they will be able to fulfil their targeted milestones.”
