Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) and Saudi Telecom Ventures (STV) have co-led an investment in KSA-based Nana, one of Saudi Arabia’s fastest growing technology start up. Other investors in the round included existing investors Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), Watar Partners and Wamda Capital. MEVP had earlier invested in Nana in 2019.
Nana is an online grocery platform that currently serves 14 cities across the Kingdom. The marketplace platform powers hypermarkets and helps them showcase their inventory to millions of Nana users. Buyers enjoy the luxury of sitting at home while a shopper prepares the basket and hands it to a delivery man to deliver the order. The technology allows users to get a constant overview of the progress during the order and nana users love the brand for the flawless experience.
“We have spent the past year and a half to remove the bottlenecks in everyday grocery buying for our users. There is a long way to go, and with investors such as MEVP and STV, we are confident of being Saudi’s leading consumer app.” said Sami Alhelwah, Founder & CEO of Nana. “This round will enable us to expand in KSA and outside. It will allow us to focus on further improving our stellar customer experience and develop technology solutions to support our partner's growth and development.” Sami added.
Nana has tripled its turnover during the past year and partnerships with Carrefour, Panda, Spar, Farm Superstores, Manuel and many others has helped Nana offer the widest possible range of consumer packaged goods (CPG) all over Saudi.
Commenting on the deal, Ankit Sarwahi from MEVP said “Nana keeps ticking all the boxes of a rapidly growing tech start-up. We are delighted with the dynamism of the Founders and the frantic pace at which the Company is capturing market share. We stay committed to and aligned with Nana’s mission of moving a substantial chunk of grocery from offline to an online environment and we are excited to see the Company walk into its next phase of expansion on the back of this fund raise.”
For Saudi Telecom Ventures (STV) this is yet another commitment to the Saudi tech ecosystem. Ahmad Alshammari, Principal at STV, added: “Online grocery penetration in Saudi Arabia has the potential to grow 18 times to reach global rates. The opportunity to transform the second-highest consumer spending bucket is large and significant. We’re very excited to back the vision of Sami and the team at Nana; they have managed to build an intuitive product, a reliable operation, and developed valuable partnerships. In a very short time span, Nana has emerged as the market leader in Saudi Arabia and is best-positioned to capture the greater MENA market.”
Nana is constantly adding hypermarkets partners as well as boutique food stores to its repertoire. The Company aims to deliver a hundred thousand orders every month to Saudi-based buyers and aims to reach this milestone by the end of 2020.