Zid, a Saudi Arabia-based e-commerce enabler, has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by regional venture capital firm Impact46.
Aramco’s venture capital arm, Waed Ventures, and Endeavour Catalyst joined as new investors in the round. Existing investors Global Ventures, Elm Company, Arzan and MSA Capital also participated.
Founded in 2017 by Sultan AlAsmi and Mazen AlDarrab, Zid enables retailers to sell and grow their own online channels, through its two solutions, ZidShip and ZidPay.
Zid will use the new money to expand into markets both within and outside of Saudi Arabia. The startup will also use the funds to add new retail verticals, and further automate its solutions.
This is the third round of investment Zid has received since the business was founded in 2017, and follows a Series A investment round of $7 million in March 2021.
Zid claims to have doubled its revenue from subscriptions and transactions. Zid’s merchant network now reaches over 7,500 stores across 19 different categories, from small to large merchants in the retail sector.
AlAsmi, who is the startup’s chief executive officer, said: “We are focused on being the regional optimum solution for each economy we operate in, having proved it in Saudi Arabia.”
VUZ
Five-year-old UAE-based social app VUZ has raised $20 million in Series B investment from a bunch of global investors.
The startup snagged the funding from Caruso Ventures, Vision VC Fund, e& capital, Dubai Future District Fund, Webit Investment Network, SRMG, Elbert Capital, and Yasta Partners, Faith Capital, Panthera Capital and existing investors.
Founded in 2017 by Khaled Zaatarah, VUZ allows users to stream and experience immersive realism in extended reality (XR) and metaverse digital experiences, with the option to engage with different content from anywhere in the world.
The startup said it will use the new money to increase its reach to more audiences, improve its recurring revenue growth, launch Web3 products and NFT projects, and scale with creators and content in the US, Asia and Europe.
HRcom
Saudi Arabia-based HR tech startup HRcom has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from SMASCO, Professional Recruitment, Squadio, and a group of angel investors.
HRcom was founded in 2020 and focuses on digitizing hiring procedures and enhancing selection standards. The startup says it offers solutions for managing hiring procedures through an all-encompassing digital system.
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