Recent research suggests that the e-commerce market in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt account for a combined $21.4 billion and is projected to grow by more than 50% to $33.3 billion in the next three years. And as MENA shoppers increase their commerce spending, it is increasingly becoming imperative for online stores to position themselves to take full advantage of the growing phenomenon.
FlapKap, using its revenue-based financing platform (RBF), is helping these stores solve the growth-destructive challenges emerging online stores encounter when trying to meet customer demands. The company, which allows e-commerce businesses to scale and grow by targeting businesses with limited bank or venture financing access, is announcing that it has raised $3.6 million in seed funding to supercharge its efforts.
Ahmad Coucha and Khaled Nassef founded FlapKap in 2022; Sherif Bichara and Adel Hodroj are on the founding team. It was during Coucha’s time at Kijamii, a digital agency upstart he launched in 2014 that conducted projects for Fortune 500 companies, that the CEO noticed late payment and access to working capital issues businesses, including his, faced. For instance, most of Kijamii’s clients always paid late, sometimes 30 to 120 days from when a sale closed.
“We always thought to ourselves that this should be the exact opposite. Big clients with massive amounts of cash shouldn’t be the ones that get super flexible payment terms from the agencies; it should be the small and medium enterprises struggling for cash and growth. These should be getting the support,” CEO Coucha told TechCrunch.
In 2021, Coucha spent some time in the U.S. and witnessed the rise of revenue-based financing platforms in the country and the West, including Clearco and Wayflyer. The idea to replicate a similar operation for MENA popped up, hence the launch of FlapKap. The company serves mainly SaaS and e-commerce platforms like most revenue-based financing companies but has more clientele on the former than the latter.
E-commerce operations have flexible payment terms that suit FlapKap’s business as they spend a lot on advertising, marketing and inventory, recurring activities responsible for these brands making late payments or
