• Cairo-based startup ShipBlu has closed an undisclosed amount in a pre-Seed funding round led by Nama Ventures, with participation from Y-Combinator and other prominent angel investors from San Francisco and Saudi Arabia.

• Founded in October 2020 by Ali Nasser, Abdelrahman Hosny and Ahmed El Kawass. Ali, ShipBlu offers e-commerce fulfilment services, by providing delivery services using artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.

• Through its fleet across Egypt, ShipBlu offers delivery within three hours to e-commerce customers with shipping transparency.

• ShipBlu also announced it has been accepted onto Y Combinator’s summer 2021 Batch.

Press release:

ShipBlu, the platform that is redefining the e-commerce shipping and fulfilment experience in Egypt, announced that it has been accepted into Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 Batch, and has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Seed funding round led by Nama Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and other prominent angel investors from San Francisco, CA and Saudi Arabia.

ShipBlu is built to deliver a unique e-commerce shipping experience. Powered by ShipBlu’s own artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, ShipBlu uses its fleets to deliver shipments on time, every time, guaranteed. ShipBlu allows customers to select their preferred three-hour delivery window and to view the live location of couriers as they approach their locations, delivering complete shipping transparency. Building on its last-mile technology, ShipBlu also provides e-commerce fulfilment services, with planned fulfilment centres across all of Egypt. Integrating fulfilment services with its last-mile operations provides for a unique and seamless experience for merchants and customers alike.

ShipBlu was founded in October 2020 by Ali Nasser, Abdelrahman Hosny and Ahmed El Kawass. Ali, the CEO, comes from an investment banking background, previously at Citi in New York City, returned to Egypt in 2018 and became painfully aware of the woes of last-mile delivery in the region. Ahmed, COO, comes from a supply chain and advertising background, previously at Nestle and Reckitt Benckiser, and most recently leading the communications department at 77 Media of Saudi Arabia. Abdelrahman comes from a computer science background and is currently completing his PhD at Brown University in the US, focusing on the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in combinatorial optimisation. Together, the three founders joined forces in 2020 and began building ShipBlu, seeking to redefine the shipping experience in Egypt for thousands of merchants and millions of customers who shop online every day.

“People are excited about shopping online in Egypt because it’s effortless and convenient. Unfortunately, a lot of times the delivery experience really puts people off. Some of it is due to a lack of infrastructure, some of it is due to poor resource management. At ShipBlu, we’ve solved both parts of that problem. We promise to deliver a shipping experience that customers will look forward to so that merchants can stay focused on what matters, and customers can continue to enjoy online shopping,” says Ali Nasser.

“We are super proud to have ShipBlu be our first investment in Egypt”. says Mohammed Alzubi, Managing Partner of Nama Ventures. “We have really enjoyed getting to know the founders and seeing their passion to disrupt the e-commerce shipping experience. The team is unparalleled to address this opportunity. We are witnessing first-hand what a well-rounded team with complementary skillsets can do in a very short time. Riding with Ali, Ahmed and Abdelrahman on the ShipBlu spaceship has already been exciting, but we can't wait to see what the future holds together”.