Egypt-based e-commerce and retail company ExpandCart, has raised a $2.5 million Series A round led by Sawari Ventures, with participation from Agility Ventures, Graphene Ventures and two angel investors.

Founded in 2013, ExpandCart enables merchants and retailers to build their online stores and expand their sales. 

According to the company, the demand for its solution has skyrocketed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing it to support thousands of merchants to continue their business online. The investment comes as part of the company’s strategic plan to double down on digital commerce solutions that target online and offline retailers and reduce the gap between suppliers and merchants in the Middle East.

“At ExpandCart, we believe that technology can empower commerce, with that vision in mind, over the past couple of years, we have built solutions to help merchants expand their sales online and offline,” said Amr Shawqy, CEO and co-founder of ExpandCart.

ExpandCart operates across the Gulf area, Egypt, and North Africa, and has so far serviced 20,000 merchants in over 40 countries. It works with Facebook, Google, PayPal, DHL, Boubyan Bank, among others.

“Over the past years, the ExpandCart team was able to build an amazing platform supporting thousands of merchants from all over the Middle East. Their new e-commerce solutions roadmap proves that they truly understand the future of e-commerce, and we are excited to be part of their journey,” said Ahmed Alfi, chairman of Sawari Ventures.