Saudi-based Nana Direct, an online grocery platform, raised $6.6 million in its series A in an investment co-led by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) and Impact46. Other investors include Watar Partners, Saudi Venture Capital (SVC) Company, and Wamda Capital.

Nana will use the new capital to accelerate its growth plans, onboard new stores, continue to build its team and further develop vendor relations.

“Having built several enterprise products in the past, I wanted to tackle a core consumer challenge and was curious to build technologies to resolve it. Groceries form a significant fraction of a Saudi family’s monthly expenditure and I believed the experience they get in return could be enhanced manifold,” said Sami Alhelwah, founder and CEO of Nana Direct.

“All around Mena more and more offline retail verticals from electronics to food were moving online, and this is what led me to Nana, a supermarket in your mobile phone.”

The deal also marks the debut investment for the partnership between MEVP and Impact46.

“At MEVP, we like to back strong founders with exceptional technical capabilities, who are building truly differentiated products; and that is exactly what we saw in Nana,” said Walid Mansour, partner and chief investment officer at MEVP. 

“What the Nana team does very well, is offer a large selection of products, delivered seamlessly; and this is executed on the back of very robust tech.”