Dabchy, a Tunis-based peer-to-peer (P2P) fashion marketplace has raised $300,000 in a seed round led by 500 Startups and joined by Flat6Labs, Khobar-based Vision Ventures and Daal, and a group of angel investors, the startup announced in a statement to MENAbytes.
Founded by Amani Mansouri, Ghazi Ketata and Oussama Mahjoub, Dabchy that had initially started as a Facebook Group now has a community of over 400,000 users in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, who use its web and mobile-based platform to buy and sell new (unused lying in one’s wardrobe), self-made, pre-owned (used) clothes and accessories for women and kids. Dabchy’s Android app has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
In Tunisia where most of the Dabchy’s business comes from, it takes care of the entire buying and selling process including shipping and payments.
The startup claims to have doubled the catalog of items listed on its platform to 420,000 which (it says) makes it one of the largest online stores in Tunisia. The users, according to a statement by Dabchy, are adding more than 2,000 new items every day.
Amani Mansouri, the co-founder and CEO of Dabchy, in a conversation with MENAbytes, said that they plan to use a part of these funds to expand to Egypt by the end of this year. The startup also plans to use the investment to accelerate its product development and expand its team.
In a statement, Amani added, “At Dabchy, we operate as a trusted third between buyers and sellers and have facilitated more than 100,000 transactions to-date. Our ambition is to become the number one fashion marketplace in the region and to empower a new generation of women to become microentrepreneurs by creating their own businesses online.”
Dabchy was part of Flat6Labs Tunis’ first cohort and is currently taking part in the second class of Womentum, an accelerator program for female founders by Dubai-based Womena. According to the statement, it was also the first Tunisian and African startup to have joined European Fashion Tech Incubator last year.
Hasan Haider, a partner with 500 Startups, commenting on the occasion, said, “We’re pleased to back the team behind Dabchy and make this our first investment into the Tunisian market. What the team have managed to achieve so far has been amazing, and we look forward to Dabchy continuing to lead the way for used fashion online in North Africa. There is a significant market need and demand for the product, and that has already been demonstrated by their traction so far.”
It is also the first investment for both Vision Ventures and Daal in a Tunisian startup.
Kais Al-Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Venture, said, “We’ve been eyeing the North African market beyond Egypt [for some time]. It is starting to boom and the population is young and tech-savvy. Dabchy has been able to prove that their product and business model is needed in the market with a limited investment. We expect that, under the leadership of talented Amani Mansouri, it will further dominate the market very soon.”