ⓘ Featured image: Salasa co-founders; Hasan Alhazmi (L) and Abdulmajeed Alyemni; Credits: Supplied
Saudi Arabia-based Salasa, a cloud-based turnkey solution for e-commerce businesses, on Monday, announced that the startup has raised $8.5 million in Series A round led by AlSulaiman Group, with participation from Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC) and 500 Startups. The company said that the fresh funds will be deployed towards expansion across other states of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, partner network and hiring new talent.
Founded in late 2016 by industrial engineers Abdulmajeed Alyemni and Hasan Alhazmi, having experience and track record in the supply chain domain; with inspiration from a report published by Bain & Company that says “e-commerce market in MENA is expected to reach US $28.5 billion by 2022”. According to the founders, despite its high growth potential, many e-commerce businesses were struggling to scale and satisfy customers, only because they lacked the expertise to operate their warehouses.
Salasa provides solutions, tools, and resources to develop new products, enter new markets and dynamically grow client businesses, also reducing costs. The company receives, scans, and shelves e-commerce products in Salasa warehouse. The company uses high-quality, industry-specific shrink-wrap, bundling and glueing materials to keep stock. As growth partners, Salasa provides its loyal customers with accurate and professional order fulfilment as quickly as possible.
Speaking of the latest developmenr, Abdulmajeed Alyemni, Co-founder & CEO of Salasa, said,
“We are excited to have partnered with leading investors in the region and look forward to their valuable advice and support in backing our growth. Our ongoing strategy is to maintain transparency, be flexible in our services and able to scale our business to the next level. We would like to replicate this in all the markets we establish. Our clients receive the products they order online delivered at their doorstep by the click of a button. Since its launch, Salasa has been a game-changer in the Kingdom, helping brands to grow faster by eliminating their logistic pains and focus on customer fulfilment. To-date Salasa has shipped more than 10 million products and has served more than 300 local and international clients across more than 15 industries, of which we are proud.”
Hasan Alhazmi, Co-founder & COO, said,
“We are poised for growth and we are aggressively investing in our proprietary technology to achieve superior operational excellence and utilize predictive analytics and insights to help our customers in making strategic decisions. The market outlook indicates significant growth in this sector, and we are confident, as experts in this field, we can meet client demands, faster, with better delivery experience, at affordable prices.”
Saud AlSulaiman, CEO of AlSulaiman Group, said,
“We feel proud to lead this investment round in a startup that provides services with a business model that promises rapid growth and development, especially in these difficult times where the world is going through with COVID19 pandemic and the urgent need to rely on e-commerce and supply chain. Our previous investments in the logistics industry can give a boost to Salasa where they can collaborate and build synergies. We have full trust in Salasa team and its ability to move forward with the expansion and growth plan in the Kingdom and the whole region.”
According to a report by iGate Research, Saudi Arabia e-commerce market is predicted to reach nearly US$ 24 Billion by 2026. The country has experienced a steady shift from offline shopping to online shopping in the recent past. Being the largest among the GCC countries, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a population of over 34 Million that is highly urbanized as over 84 percent of the country is living in urbanized areas, with super-fast internet connections. With such an affluent population, Saudi Arabia is poised as an attractive market for e-commerce – offering huge potential for industry players. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has an overwhelmingly young and rich population as the country is ranked among the top 20 richest countries by spending power, the high-spending power of the country’s citizens is a driving factor in the growth of e-commerce.
Realizing the potential of the e-commerce market in the country, the Saudi Government has taken a number of steps to boost the market. The Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment (“MOCI”) has introduced a new Electronic Commerce Law (the “E-Commerce Law”), effective as of 9th October 2019. E-commerce is recognized as one of the pillars of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 under the National Transformation Program and the government aims to increase the contribution of modern trade and e-commerce to 80 percent in the retail sector by 2030. Also, the Saudi Arabian government is planning an investment of over US$ 100 billion in the development of logistics infrastructure to boost e-commerce growth in the region.
