7 July, CAIRO. ShipBlu, the platform that is redefining the ecommerce shipping and
fulfillment experience in Egypt, announced that it has been accepted into
Y-Combinator’s Summer 2021 Batch, and has raised an undisclosed amount in a
pre-seed funding round led by Nama Ventures, with participation from Y-Combinator
and other prominent angel investors from San Francisco, CA and Saudi Arabia.
ShipBlu is built to deliver a unique ecommerce shipping experience. Powered by
ShipBlu’s own artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, ShipBlu uses its
fleets to deliver shipments on-time, everytime, guaranteed. ShipBlu allows customers to
select their preferred 3-hour delivery window and to view the live location of couriers as
they approach their locations, delivering complete shipping transparency. Building on its
last mile technology, ShipBlu also provides ecommerce fulfillment services, with planned
fulfillment centers across all of Egypt. Integrating fulfillment services with its last mile
operations provides for a unique and seamless experience for merchants and
customers alike.
ShipBlu was founded in October 2020 by Ali Nasser, Abdelrahman Hosny and Ahmed
El Kawass. Ali, CEO, comes from an investment banking background, previously at Citi
in New York City, returned to Egypt in 2018 and became painfully aware of the woes of
last mile delivery in the region. Ahmed, COO, comes from a supply chain and
advertising background, previously at Nestle and Reckitt Benckiser, and most recently
leading the communications department at 77 Media of Saudi Arabia. Abdelrahman
comes from a computer science background, and is currently completing his PhD at
Brown University in the US, focusing on the applications of artificial intelligence and
machine learning in combinatorial optimization. Together, the three founders joined
forces in 2020 and began building ShipBlu, seeking to redefine the shipping experience
in Egypt for thousands of merchants and millions of customers who shop online
everyday.
“People are excited about shopping online in Egypt because it’s effortless and
convenient. Unfortunately, a lot of times the delivery experience really puts people off.
Some of it is due to a lack of infrastructure, some of it is due to poor resource
management. At ShipBlu, we’ve solved both parts of that problem. We promise to
deliver a shipping experience that customers will look forward to, so that merchants can
stay focused on what matters, and customers can continue to enjoy online shopping.”
says Ali Nasser.
“We are super proud to have ShipBlu be our first investment in Egypt”. says
Mohammed Alzubi, Managing Partner of Nama Ventures. “We have really enjoyed
getting to know the founders and to see their passion to disrupt the ecommerce
shipping experience. The team is unparalleled to address this opportunity. We are
witnessing first hand what a well-rounded team with complementary skill sets can do in
a very short time. Riding with Ali, Ahmed and Abdelrahman on the ShipBlu spaceship
has already been exciting, but we can’t wait to see what the future holds together”.
