E-commerce has been booming in Africa over the past few years. To support commercial enterprises in their digital transformation, El-dokan provides them with highly flexible and customizable technological infrastructures.

Egyptian enterprise software solution provider El-dokan announced, Monday (September 5), the close of a US$550,000 pre-seed round to establish its international presence. The round was led by a cluster of local and regional investors including EFG EV and Flat6Labs, 500 Global, and Hala Ventures.

Apart from helping establish its international presence, the funds will also help El-Dokan upgrade its technology. "We already succeeded in establishing a legal entity in Saudi Arabia to expand our sales and marketing activities across the GCC [ed. note: the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf]. This expansion should be followed by the South African market, after building a strong footprint in the Mena region,"  an El-Dokan representative told Middle Eastern media The National.  

According to the International Trade Centre's (ITC) recent report on African ecommerce potential, Egypt is among the ten countries that account for 94% of online activities in Africa. During the coronavirus pandemic, the number grew significantly and ecommerce has become an essential component of the country’s business strategy. For data platform ecommerceDB, an estimated US$5.2 billion in ecommerce revenues were generated in Egypt.

El-Dokan is already a leader in the MENA region. But, it wants to capitalize on the growing adoption of ecommerce to reinforce its position on the African continent.  Since 2014, the company has been providing application programming interfaces (APIs) to large and medium-sized retailers, as well as startups, enabling them to build highly customized and tailored e-commerce stores. The company also helps them "drive sales growth while simultaneously bringing down maintenance costs [and helps achieve] the highest levels of operational efficiency," says Mohamed Yousry, CTO and co-founder of El-dokan.

To date, the company estimates that its customers have grossed US$45 million. El-dokan also claims collaboration with several international clients such as Procter & Gamble (P&G), Misr Pharmacies, Mobily, Zahran stores, and Apple Premium Switch Plus seller, as well as food delivery app Appetito.

Samira Njoya