Middle-East focussed e-commerce platform, Wadi.com raises funding of $ 67 million (about Rs 456 crore) in series-A funding led by Al Tayyar Travel Group. The Dubai-based firm, Wadi was founded by Ankit Wadhwa, Pratik Gupta and Kanwal Sarfaraz. This series A funding will be used to expand operations in the region, ramp up headcount in India and Middle East as well as strengthening technology platform.
“This is the largest series A funding in the tech history of Middle East and will further accelerate our growth. Wadi.com is currently active in UAE and Saudi Arabia and is expanding soon to other countries like Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain,”- Wadhwa
A general merchandise marketplace, Wadi.com has strong growth and has already reached the number three spot in the category by revenue in the GCC region in 10 months of operations, – Wadhwa
“India also plays an important sourcing destination for us. Over 50 Indian sellers are already shipping directly to the Gulf countries through us and we are looking at expanding that as well, “Of the 180 people we have, 100 are in India. These people bring in industry experience from other eCommerce firms like Snaodeal, Jabong and Myntra across areas like marketing, technology and business analytics,” “- Wadhwa
More than 1.5 lakh products from over 2,000 international brands including Apple, Samsung, Lacoste and Hugo Boss are offered on the platform. The company is looking at ramping up its headcount to about 360 people within a year as it expands its operations.
Wadi.com has become one of the most important e-commerce players in the Middle East within a very short period of time.We are confident to see Wadi.com growing further, especially with the cargo and logistics support our group will be offering. With this investment, the Al Tayyar Travel Group covers the three largest and most promising areas in the online space: Travel, General Merchandise Marketplace and the shared economy,” – Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Dawood, Managing Director and CEO of Al Tayyar Travel Group
