01 February 2016
- New partnerships with Wamda Capital, twofour54, and Endeavor Catalyst set to boost e-commerce segment -

 

 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: 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!"

-Ends-

About Mumzworld
www.Mumzworld.com  is the largest bilingual e-commerce site in the Middle East dedicated to everything mother, baby and child, that enables shoppers to search, compare and buy from the convenience of their own home.

Founded in October 2011 by successful entrepreneur and mother Mona Ataya, along with her co-founders Leena Khalil, Bader Ataya, and Michael Ghandour, mumzworld.com addresses the challenges mothers in the region face in sourcing products for their children and in obtaining access to information about these products. A highly interactive online market place, mumzworld.com offers its customers access to the best brands at the best prices from the convenience of their own homes.

For more information visit www.mumzworld.com | Join us on facebook | Follow us on twitter

About Wamda Capital
Wamda Capital is the MENA region's leading venture capital firm investing in exceptional entrepreneurs building the region's most promising high growth technology businesses. 

The Fund invests both at the growth and seed stages with the aim of taking partner companies through successive rounds of financing through to exit and is particularly interested in supporting disruptive and transformational businesses that can deliver unmatched value to stakeholders.

About TwoFour54
twofour54, home to Abu Dhabi's media and entertainment industry, aims to cultivate Abu Dhabi's media free zone and provide products and services to attract local, regional and international media businesses to the Emirate. Tasked with enabling a new generation of creative leaders and building Abu Dhabi as the Middle East's leading hub for content creation, twofour54 provides world-class production facilities, talent development initiatives and training, and business support services for media companies. 
 
Named after the geographical coordinates of Abu Dhabi, twofour54 is now home to 350 media companies - including Sky News Arabia, Image Nation, Ubisoft, CNN, Fox, Flash Entertainment, M&C Saatchi, and Flat6Labs - as well as a bi-lingual freelancer pool and a community of aspiring media talents. twofour54 also supports industry-building initiatives such as Abu Dhabi Media Summit. 
 
twofour54 is a government initiative and is owned by Media Zone Authority - Abu Dhabi. For more information, visit www.twofour54.com

About Endeavor Catalyst
Endeavor Catalyst is a passive co-investment vehicle that allows Endeavor Global to invest in Endeavor Entrepreneurs in a neutral, unbiased way. The main goal of this program is to use the returns of the investment to support Endeavor's operations. The fund also contributes to Endeavor's mission as it promotes professional third-party angel and venture capital investors to take a stronger interest in emerging market investment opportunities.

For more information please contact:
Samantha Carey
Mojo PR
Samantha@mojo-me.com
050 2508 609

© Press Release 2016