Dubai (UAE), February 2nd, 2016: Mother, baby and child e-commerce website and Endeavor UAE entrepreneur company ‘Mumzworld’ has successfully closed its Series B funding with multi-million dollar investments led by Wamda Capital, twofour54, and Endeavor Catalyst. Additional investors include Precinct Partners and WSB Holding among others, as well as several pre-existing investors who increased their stake in the company.
The new partnerships bring not only financial investment, but also offer important strategic contribution for the e-commerce site. The ‘smart capital’ injection received from investors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, USA and the UAE will prove particularly instrumental in the facilitation of Mumzworld’s aggressive growth plans for the GCC. The investment will also enable the expedition of planned customer focus initiatives, with emphasis on optimizing technology and logistics operations and increasing product offerings and line expansions to elevate the online consumer experience.
Commenting on the recent investment round, Mumzworld CEO Mona Ataya said: “Finding the right strategic partners during this latest round of funding has been a key element for us, because it is clear our future growth depends on more than capital input. We now have room to concentrate on delivering an exceptional online consumer experience – enabling consumers to make the most informed purchasing decisions from the widest range of products and with unrivalled convenience. We want to empower our consumers and make their lives easier.”
Founded by Ataya in 2011, www.mumzworld.com has enjoyed considerable growth across the region, tapping into a fast growing regional market segment with an award-winning online platform that is bi-lingual, user-friendly and offers the largest online inventory available in the GCC. Stocking over 100,000 products spanning the mother, child and baby segment, 15,000 of which it offers exclusively, the e-commerce retailer will focus on expansion into m-commerce in 2016. The site currently has access to over 650,000 mothers in the region and has very high loyalty with over 45% of its customers coming back to buy 5-6 times a year.
Mona Ataya was one of the first entrepreneurs to be selected into the entrepreneur program offered by Endeavor UAE, the local affiliate of the global non-profit growth catalyst Endeavor, created to support high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. Through the program that helps to scale up businesses, the Mumzworld entrepreneur has enjoyed access to an unparalleled global network of mentors and business leaders. Endeavor works on a ‘mentor capitalist’ model, providing and fostering financial, human, social, intellectual and cultural capital. Endeavor Catalyst is a passive co-investment vehicle that allows Endeavor Global to invest in Endeavor Entrepreneurs in a neutral, unbiased way.
Khaled Talhouni of Wamda Capital commented: “We are excited to be part of the Mumzworld story and view the company as an exceptional example of regional entrepreneurs building transformational businesses. The company’s continued success is reflective of our long term thesis around the rapid development of e-commerce and marketplaces in the region and specifically niche focused high margin offerings that are disruptive of traditional retail.”
Allen Taylor, VP Global Networks and Managing Director of Endeavor Catalyst commented: “We are thrilled to be co-investing with Wamda Capital on Mumzworld. This marks our 3rd investment in the region in the past 12 months for our Endeavor Catalyst fund, and we couldn’t be more excited to support Mona and her team. Mona truly is a high-impact entrepreneur, and we can’t wait to partner with her on this next stage of growth!”
