Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 7th February 2018. Mumzworld, the Middle East North Africa (MENA) leading e-commerce player dedicated to mothers, babies and children, today announced it has raised its fifth and largest round of funding to date to pursue its ambitious regional growth plans with the vision of making mothers’ lives easier.
The funding round was led by Swicorp and Wamda. Swicorp led a syndicate of new powerhouse investors including a landmark investment by Tamer Group. The continued investment from Wamda and six other existing regional investors including Precinct Capital, WSB Holding, Riverbank Technologies and Saned, demonstrates their strong confidence in the company’s aggressive growth trajectory and sustained domination in the region. Mumzworld is also in advanced stages with two additional investors who are excited to join in topping up this already large round by early Q2 2018.
The newly acquired funds will add tangible value to Mumzworld’s ambitious growth trajectory as it continues to rapidly scale its on-the-ground operations across key growth markets like Saudi Arabia and North Africa. Alongside Swicorp and Tamer Group, other new investors include prominent Saudi groups operating in adjacent segments and at the forefront of multiple mother and child categories with both manufacturing and distribution capacities. In addition to the financial investment, Mumzworld is building long-term strategic partnerships that will enable it to strengthen its local operations in Saudi Arabia and grow exponentially in this market where it already serves mothers inside and outside the three main cities.
Mona Ataya, Founder and CEO of Mumzworld said: “We founded Mumzworld.com in 2011 pioneering the vertical space for mother, baby and child. Over the last seven years, we have anchored our position as the premier online retailer for all things mother, baby and child in the region, establishing ourselves as the go-to destination for global baby brands wanting to reach this important regional consumer. Today we serve global brands offering them fast and cost-effective access to the widest, most loyal and targeted consumer base. Our number one priority for the coming two years is to build, scale and consolidate an indisputable position of category leader in Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest and most lucrative market. We are thrilled to welcome our new strategic partners such as Tamer Group. We look forward to working with all our partners and leverage their strong capabilities in distribution and logistics to serve mums, across the GCC, with superior speed and unique mother centric services, creating a superior customer experience. Our strong and supportive investor base will help us further anchor our advantages and grow deeper and faster across the MENA region.”
Khaled Talhouni, Partner at Wamda added: “We are very excited to be co-leading this latest round of investment at Mumzworld as part of our strategy to continuously back exponential growth companies through multiple rounds of financing. As the company continues to dominate this vertical space for mother and child, Wamda investment is a natural biproduct.”
Mohammed Tamer, Partner and CEO of Tamer Group said: “Tamer group is enthusiastic about this investment and extends its full support to Mumzworld in providing a better shopping experience for Saudi mothers, allowing them to buy all their needs, delivered to their doorsteps wherever they live in the Kingdom.”
Karim Souid, Head of the Next Economy Initiative for Swicorp concluded: “Mumzworld is at the intersection of the high-growth regional e-commerce market with the attractive segment of mother, baby and child products. In an overall e-commerce space dominated by Amazon and the likes, we believe leading full-service and consumer-centric vertical players like Mumzworld have embedded defensibility and a strong potential to grow and scale. This is evidenced by Mumzworld’s impressive growth and attractive unit economics. We look forward to working with a world-class team to build the dominant mother, baby and child e-retailer in MENA and beyond.”
H.E. Maryam Eid AlMheiri, CEO of Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi and twofour54, adds: “Mumzworld is one of twofour54’s success stories. We believe in nurturing entrepreneurship, which is why we support innovative ideas such as Mumzworld. Being one of our investment companies and partners, we are delighted to hear of its very impressive new round of funding.”
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About mumzworld.com®:
www.Mumzworld.com® is the pioneer and leading bilingual e-commerce site in the Middle East dedicated to everything mother, baby and child, which enables shoppers to search, compare and buy from the convenience of their own home. Working with over 2,700 retailers, distributers, manufacturers and brands in the region and internationally, Mumzworld.com® prides itself on carrying the single largest quality range of mother preferred products, with over 200,000 products to choose from of which 20,000 products are sold exclusively on the site. Best-sellers, global award winners, unique finds and everyday must-haves from Baby Registry to Back to School across toys, feeding, strollers and much more, it is no wonder the brand has become a regional household name.
Founded by successful entrepreneurs and mothers Mona Ataya and Leena Khalil, in October 2011, mumzworld.com addresses the challenges mothers in the region face in sourcing products for their children and in obtaining access to information about these products. A highly interactive online marketplace, with innovative technology and vertical offerings driving its customer obsessed mission, mumzworld.com offers its customers access to the best brands at the best prices from the convenience of their own homes. For more information visit www.mumzworld.com| Join us on Facebook | Follow us on Instagram or Twitter.
About Tamer Group:
Tamer Group is a leading healthcare, beauty care, prestige products, and fast-moving consumer goods company responding to the growing needs of the Saudi and Middle East communities. The Group’s core activities are import, distribution, promotion, marketing, manufacturing and logistics. Today, Tamer Group has established a special position in the Saudi marketplace, resulting from a unique approach to business, service and customer portfolio. Headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Tamer Group serves many of the world’s leading companies through various agreements, partnerships, and joint ventures. For more information, see www.tamergroup.com
About Swicorp:
Swicorp is a leading independent advisory and investment firm with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). Swicorp serves its clients and investors from a network of regional offices in, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, Geneva, and Tunis. In 2017, Swicorp launched the Next Economy Initiative with the objective to be the leading platform for growth capital investment in the region’s technology and digital space. Swicorp was founded in 1987 by its current chairman Kamel Lazaar, and is licensed by the Capital Market Authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Dubai Financial Services Authority of the United Arab Emirates. For more information visit www.swicorp.com
About Wamda:
Wamda accelerates entrepreneurship ecosystems throughout the MENA region by joining Wamda Capital, the most active, multi-stage, sector agnostic venture capital fund investing in high growth technology or technology-enabled start-ups across MENA, and the Wamda Platform, the leading knowledge platform offering integrated programs including media, community development, research, corporate and government advisory services to the various stakeholders of the MENA start-up ecosystem. www.wamdacapital.com, www.wamda.com
