Kuwaiti delivery startup Armada raises Pre-Series A investment, plans expansion to Saudi & Jordan

Kuwait-based delivery startup Armada Delivery Solutions has raised a ‘significant’ investment in a Pre-Series A round, led by Kuwaiti VC Sharq Ventures, and joined by Arzan VC who had also invested in the seed round of the startup.

Founded in 2016 by Ahmad AlObaid, Armada connects businesses looking for delivery solutions with an aggregated base of freelance and professional on-demand couriers through its web-based logistics platform. The startup currently offers its services in Kuwait only. Armada also has a logistics API and an enterprise fleet management solution for its partners and clients.

Armada has been experiencing 65% month-on-month growth in the number of deliveries completed since it closed its seed round in January 2017 that was led by Arzan VC.

“We kicked off 2018 by closing our pre-series A investment round with Sharq Ventures and a second follow on by Arzan VC, and this will allow us to maintain our exponential growth in Kuwait and bolster our operations and technology team to build a smoother delivery experience for our merchants,” said Ahmad AlObaid, the Founder and CEO of Armada who previously served Startup Grind as Director for their Kuwait Chapter. “The target for Armada is to continuously build integrations that allow for a delivery experience with no human intervention, saving valuable minutes that lead to a faster delivery to the end consumer.”

Homoud AlSabah, the Managing Partner of Sharq Ventures, speaking about the investment, said: “Armada eliminated the hassle of logistics for any business owner, providing a one-stop shop for all the business delivery needs, form distribution and aggregation to last mile delivery. With Armada’s platform, delivery couriers become more organized; thus increasing the efficiency for both sides of any transaction,”

“Sharq Ventures believes in the direction that this startup is heading towards and more importantly believes that the founder and his team are able to uplift this venture.” he continued.

Hasan Zainal, the Managing Partner at Arzan VC, also commented on the occasion by saying: “Ahmad and his team faced challenges throughout 2017, however, their ability to work as a team and find creative solutions helped them overcome these obstacles, persuade customers, and grow fast. Arzan VC’s team is happy to continuously work with Armada’s team.”

The startup aims to use the investment to hire more operational and tech talent and expand to Saudi and Jordan by launching their beta in Riyadh and West Amman very soon, Ahmad told MENAbytes.

The size of the investment was not disclosed.