Participated · Equity · Nov 2023

Retailo, founded in 2020 by Talha Ansari, Wahaj Ahmed, and Mohammad Nowkhaiz, operates a plug-and-play B2B digital distribution platform serving thousands of retail partners and restaurants in Saudi Arabia. The company offers next-day delivery on a catalogue of 5,000 stock-keeping units and hosts 200+ leading local, regional and global brand partners. Retailo positions its platform as a way for suppliers to distribute products across the Kingdom and leverage the company’s distribution network and customer base. The business has announced strategic collaborations, including a technology distribution partnership with South Korea’s Dtonic to deploy AI-powered retail technology. Retailo says it will use new funding to grow its supplier network, enlarge its customer base, expand new verticals and deepen its presence within Saudi Arabia. Investors and partners cite the company’s tech capabilities and "profitable growth" as drivers for continued support as Retailo pursues further expansion under Saudi Vision 2030 initiatives. Retailo operates a mobile B2B marketplace that lets small businesses order from a catalogue of over 5,000 SKUs with deliveries in less than 24 hours. The platform offers buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services and provides sellers with data analytics to evaluate sales performance and consumption trends. Retailo works directly with hundreds of local, regional and global brands and manages end-to-end logistics including efficient warehousing operations and smart fleet management. The company has begun offering sellers cross-border distribution across KSA, UAE and Pakistan to provide a one-stop shop. Founded in July 2020 and based in Riyadh, Retailo has raised $36M in Series A equity and venture debt and a total of $45M in under 1.5 years of operations. It plans to use the funds to expand into new geographies, verticals and products. Retailo was launched in early 2020 by former Careem executives Talha Ansari, Muhammad Nowkhaiz, and Wahaj Ahmed to address fragmented retail supply chains in the Middle East and South Asia. The company operates an online B2B marketplace that connects small retailers with suppliers, provides last-mile delivery, and is piloting credit for merchants. Its model aims to remove transportation and cash constraints so retailers can restock more frequently and scale operations. Retailo emphasizes three core pillars: marketplace access for suppliers via smartphones, logistics (last-mile delivery), and credit deployment, with plans to integrate backward into the supply chain by working directly with farmers. The startup has used early external funding to expand operations in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and plans further regional launches. Financially, Retailo raised a $2.3M pre-seed in October and closed a $6.7M seed round in May to support its expansion and product development. Retailo is described in the article as a Pakistani B2B platform. The company raised $2.3 million in a pre-seed funding round. The pre-seed round was led by Shorooq Partners. The article does not disclose revenue, user counts, product specifics, or future plans. No past rounds or additional investors were named in the coverage. The report positions the raise as early-stage funding for the company.