Dubai-based Opontia raises $20m to acquire MENA e-commerce brands

Dubai-based Opontia raises $20m to acquire MENA e-commerce brands

Opontia, a startup that acquires and grows e-commerce brands has raised $20m in seed funding. The seed round was led by Raed Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Presight Capital, and Kingsway Capital with participation from angel investors like Tushar Ahluwalia, CEO of Razor Group, Jonathan Doerr former CEO of Daras and co-founder of Jumia, and Hosam Arab the CEO of Tabby and the former CEO of Namshi. Opontia will use the funds to acquire e-commerce brands and to invest in a team of e-commerce experts in the Middle East and Africa who will be responsible for managing and growing brands after acquisition. The company, which was launched in March 2021, has already recruited a team with notable experience from Amazon, Noon, McKinsey, Uber-Eats and Namshi. Philip Johnston, CEO of Opontia, said: "We are extremely thankful to our partners who joined us on this journey to transform the MENA e-commerce ecosystem. We founded Opontia to enable e-commerce entrepreneurs to realise the potential of their brands, both in terms of getting an exit now, as well as benefiting from future growth. We saw that many sellers had started their brand because they were passionate about their product and their customers but had hit