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'SAMENA Daily' - News

Egyptian online pharmacy marketplace raises seven-figure funding

Cairo-based online pharmaceutical platform, Chefaa, has secured a seven-digit pre-series A funding from several investors.

The investors include the San-Francisco-based 500 startups, the Saudi Vision Venture and the UAE-based WOMENA accelerator, according to a statement released by the company on Sunday.

Chefaa, founded in 2017 by two Egyptian female entrepreneurs, is a tele-health enterprise that connects patients with pharmacies through an online app.

It allows chronic patients to order, schedule and refill their recurring medicines as well as all relevant non-pharmaceutical products across Egypt, according to the release shared by the company.

"Chefaa has fulfilled hundreds of thousands of orders and has been working round-the-clock amid the COVID-19 crisis to help, serve and educate chronic patients," read the shared statement.

The company's founders declined to disclose the amount of investment they have recently secured.

"We intend to use this investment to grow our operations team to be working round-the-clock; 24/7. We have also launched our private label and white label products line," said Doaa Aref, Chefaa co-founder and CEO.

“Chefaa is merging e-commerce, retail with the pharmaceutical industry and positioning itself to lead the change towards the safe digital transformation of the pharmaceutical industry. With the capital we have raised and support of partners like 500 startups, Vision ventures and Womena, we are focused on scaling efficiently and sustainably,” added Aref.

Upon securing another six-figure funding last year, the company's CEO had told Zawya that their plan was to expand the platform's coverage to Egypt's 26 provinces.

“After covering Egypt, we will expand to the GCC states by the first quarter of 2020. Saudi Arabia will be our first destination, followed by the UAE,” Aref had told Zawya in 2019.



Source: https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/business/story/Egyptian_online_pharmacy_marketplace_raises_sevenfigure_funding-ZAWYA20200615093320/

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