Dubai startup raised $17m to change how you buy phones and laptops

Revibe, which focuses on refurbished electronics, seeks to expand into Africa

- BY DHANUSHA GOKULAN Chief Reporter

Revibe co-founders Hamza Iraqui (left) and Abdessamad Benzakour. Their startup was founded in 2022.

Shoppers in the UAE may soon find it even easier to buy phones, laptops, and other gadgets, that feel brand new, without paying full new-device prices.

Revibe, a Dubai-based marketplace that focuses on refurbished electronics, has raised $17 million (Dh62.4 million) in fresh funding led by global investment firm Partech, with backing from E& Capital, Burda Principal Investments and EQNX, along with existing investors.

The company said the money will be used to improve quality, customer experience and speed up its expansion from the Gulf into Africa and other emerging markets.

Co-founder and co-CEO Hamza Iraqui told Gulf News the funding was seen inside the company as a vote of confidence in a simple promise to shoppers: refurbished does not mean second-best. He stressed that Revibe's ambition is to offer devices that are “as good as new” in daily use, but at lower prices and with a lower impact on the planet.