Kuwait’s Yahaal raises investment for its baby products ecommerce platform

Yahaal, a Kuwaiti ecommerce platform for baby products has raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a Series A round, it announced in a statement to MENAbytes last week.

The story has been covered by different outlets in the region (including The Roundup) saying that the Kuwaiti startup has raised $27 million in this round – which is not true. The $27 million part in Yahaal’s press release that it sent out to news outlets refers to the valuation of the startup, not the amount of money it has raised, it told MENAbytes. It is not disclosing the size of the investment. The money came from Kuwait-based VC Seeds Partners and AlMutamaiz International Company.

Founded in 2017 by Ali AlZankawi, Yahaal is a mobile-only ecommerce platform selling baby products, ranging from diapers and food to toys and gear. The startup has its own last-mile delivery fleet, enabling it to offer delivery as quick as 30 minutes in some areas of Kuwait, it told MENAbytes. Yahaal also said that in-house delivery solutions have also helped it improve the order support, route planning, and operational performance.

Its Android app has been downloaded over 10,000 times and apparently, the number of iOS app downloads are also in the same range. Yahaal declined to share the number of orders it processes and the customers it serves (on a monthly basis).

Ali AlZankawi, Yahaal’s co-founder and CEO, in a statement, said that Covid-19 has helped them acquire many new customers,”While the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted markets across cities and countries, the demand for online shopping has substantially increased. During the early stages of the pandemic, we witnessed a great number of new customers using Yahaal App and we are proud to have retained a great percentage of those customers.”

The startup, without sharing further details, said that it plans to use the latest investment for its expansion.