Egyptian e-commerce fashion startup, Gahez, has secured $2 million in a pre-seed funding round led by institutional investors, as it begins to scale up operations and infrastructure.
Gahez is an Egypt-based B2B e-commerce fashion startup co-founded by Wael Olama, an Egyptian businessman with extensive experience in supply chain management and an impressive career in the fashion and textile industry.
The $2-million round funding was led by Disruptech Ventures, a $25-million VC fund established to support promising early stage fintech and fintech-enabled digital services providers.
Additional investors included Egypt Ventures, Tanmeyah and Afropreneur Fund, as well as other angel investors. Gahez will use the fresh infusion of capital to build its talent and infrastructure.
Olama, Gahez co-founder and CEO, noted that the round will be used for capacity building, as the startup will invest heavily to scale and position itself within the Egyptian apparel market, which is valued at $24 billion.
He explained that the capital raise aligns with its mission to revolutionize the retail industry. Its proceeds will place the startup in the position to create value through its services in the Egyptian and African apparel market, which Olama said were untapped and widely fragmented.
Olama launched Gahez in 2021 to simplify the relationship between retailers and manufacturers and boost the online trading cycle.
In addition to connecting fashion retailers with suppliers, the startup provides retailers with credit facilities and facilitates settlements with suppliers.
Since its launch, Gahez has leveraged growth opportunities in the fashion and apparel business to improve its presence in Egypt, working with more than 15,000 merchants and 142 manufacturers.
Aside from his business role in Gahez, Olama is the chairman of the Cotton Egypt Association, the official organization managing the Egyptian Cotton Logo. He is also a board member of the Textile Chamber, a unit of the Egyptian Industrial Federation.
He is also a former chairman and shareholder of Li & Fung Egypt, a subsidiary of Li & Fung Group, a leading supply chain management company headquartered in Hong Kong.
