Dubai e-commerce platform snaps up investment jointly led by three private equity firms
Awok.com, a leading UAE mass market e-commerce platform, has closed its first external round of financing to pursue its ambitious regional growth plans with the vision of providing consumers with timely and seamless access to value products across the Middle East and North Africa.
The US$30m financing round is jointly led by StonePine ACE Partners out of its StonePine ACE Fund – a joint venture between StonePine Capital Partners and ACE & Company SA – and Al Faisaliah Ventures, the newly created Corporate Ventures Capital arm of Al Faisaliah Group. The deal is also co-invested in by globally renowned investment group Endeavor Catalyst.
The new capital raised will be mainly used for further geographical expansion into Saudi Arabia, to enhance the Awok platform empowered by technology development, and to increase Awok’s offering across multiple product categories to cater to the growing demands in the region.
It will help reinforce Awok’s team, including attracting global talent and raising the level of customer experience and after sales support. In the near future, Awok will also scale its operations across key growth markets in the GCC countries and North Africa, to bring the same outstanding level of timely service to these locations on the deal, the company revealed in a statement.
“These are truly exciting times for Awok which we founded 2013. We have been pioneers in servicing a previously untapped segment of the market with a unique product selection,” remarked Ulugbek Yuldashev, founder and CEO, Awok.com
