Going All In

Careem alumni Wahaj Ahmed, Talha Ansari, and Muhammad Nowkhaiz, cofounders of Retailo, used the pandemic incentive to quit their jobs and launch their own tech-based startup. With $45 million in funding raised in just 18 months, they’re looking to buy-now-pay-later for their next growth spurt.

- Nermeen Abbas

In July 2020, as the pandemic swept across the global supply chain and everyone went online, undeterred innovators began looking for opportunities in areas that technology had not yet fully saturated. Three former Careem employees, Wahaj Ahmed, Talha Ansari, and Muhammad Nowkhaiz were so convinced of the potential they saw in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce they quit their jobs to launch their own startup. Just 18 months later, in February 2022, they raised $36 million in a Series A funding round. “COVID-19 was such a big catalyst”, says Ansari, cofounder of Retailo. “We saw SME retailers struggling because of lack of technology while all the tech companies were thriving, and we wanted to enable community stores.”

Retailo allows community stores to buy day-to-day inventory through a mobile app and have it delivered within 24 hours. Since it was established, it has attracted total funding of $45 million from investors, including Graphene Ventures, 500 Global, Agility Venture Partners, Aujan Group, Tech Invest Com, Mentor’s Fund, IMM Investment Global, Shorooq Partners, Abercross Holdings, Arzan VC, and AgFunder, alongside individual investors. Having initially launched simultaneously in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, today more than 50,000 retailers have used the platform across 12 cities in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the U.A.E.

The cofounders now plan to use their latest capital injection to accelerate Retailo’s entry into the buy-now-pay later (BNPL) space and further expand into existing markets. “SME retailers have not progressed because of inaccessibility to the main-stream financial system. By providing easy access we want to add more value to their business,” stresses Ansari.