PHOTO
Ahmad Yousry, Chief Executive Officer
Ismail Hafez, Chief Commercial Officer
Tarek El Geresy, Chief Finance and Strategy Officer
Walid Shabana, Chief Technical Officer
Can we start with the story of Rabbit? How and when did you launch the service/app?
Yousry: Rabbit is the next generation of retail. On-demand has taken over many industries: music, media and even transportation. With less and less disposable time, consumer expectations for faster experiences are higher than ever. It has become clear that on-demand retail is next.
On a random Tuesday, I opened my fridge to grab something to eat and found nothing. So I proceeded to order whichever came fastest. Halfway through the meal, the guilt hit me. I wondered how can a burger come faster than a banana? There is a clear gap here.
This is when the premise for Rabbit was born: a solution to get groceries and more fast. Like really fast.
My first order of business was to look for smarter people than myself to build this together. I had overlapped with Tarek and Walid in the past, and shortly after, I met Ismail. The best part is that it was not at all hard to convince them, despite all of them being in impressive corporate leadership roles at household-name companies.
They could all relate to the customer problem, and saw the clear opportunity to fix it!
And together we co-founded Rabbit.
Tarek: On June 6 2021, the four of us had one fateful dinner at Yousry’s, and agreed to embark on this journey together.
It took a lot of proverbial blood, sweat and tears but exactly 130 days later, Rabbit delivered its first order!
Can you explain to our readers what services you offer exactly?
Ismail: Rabbit delivers groceries and more in 20 minutes - meaning whatever our customers need delivered quickly. We work hard to offer a broad selection of products to our customers with the highest possible availability, so they know they can count on us every time.
We closely monitor what products our customers search for in the app, and work hard to make them available ASAP. For example, customers were looking up winter items as the weather got colder, and within less than a week we added blankets, cozy socks and more!
How do you differentiate yourselves from traditional supermarkets that offer home delivery and the emergence of other online-based supermarkets?
Yousry: Rabbit is about 2 things: speed and reliability. The company’s business model, physical and technical infrastructure, operations and talent all come together to create the magical customer experience of getting what you ordered in 20 minutes. That relentless, single-minded focus is what sets Rabbit apart.
Ismail: Unlike “marketplace” companies, we control the entire value chain which is why we’re able to deliver a magical customer experience. We deliver our own stock from our own “dark stores” - hyper-local fulfillment centers in every neighborhood.
They are designed specifically to optimize for speed and powered by real-time stock tracking technology.
In short, if the item appears on the app, it means it’s available. You will find it in the bag at your doorstep in 20 minutes! No more out of stock or substitutions.
Walid: All of this is enabled by our built-for purpose tech backbone. Rabbit’s magic is made possible through three state-of-the-art tech platforms: the customer mart platform, the warehouse automation platform and the last-mile delivery platform.
What’s your value proposition? How do you remain competitive?
Ismail: Rabbit delivers groceries and more in 20 minutes. This is our core value proposition. Order it in seconds, get it in minutes. So again, it’s all about speed and reliability.
We work directly with suppliers across all categories to ensure the best availability and selection of products for the families that count on Rabbit. We strive to create this trust with the customer that Rabbit has what they are looking for, and that it arrives correctly, on time every time.
Walid: Our key to competitiveness is focusing on the customer experience, and earning our customers’ trust by delivering on our promise of speed and reliability.
This becomes more challenging yet critical to success as we scale.
What kind of funding did you need to initially kick off your idea? What kind of funding did you receive after?
Tarek: Rabbit closed a record pre-seed round of 11 Million US Dollars from various regional and global investors - the highest pre-seed round in the Middle East and Africa region. This is a huge testament to the region’s potential, and investor enthusiasm and belief in what we’re building. However, it also comes with a lot of responsibility to demonstrate impact.
Yousry: However, it is important to note that more capital is not necessarily better. Some startups just need more funding by virtue of their business model. The tech startup space is evolving at breakneck speed. We are lucky that we started Rabbit while in a bull market with a flux of funding available. which wasn’t the case only a few years ago.
My advice to every founding team is to raise the right amount of money you need to build the first stage of your business. The aim is to build a great company, not a flashy headline.
As your company hits critical growth mass, you start seeing what was merely an idea not too long ago morph into reality! There are employees, customers and families counting on you. The anxiety of the “Cash Runway” - startup jargon for how many months your cash in the bank can sustain the business, then becomes very real. But if you have clear goals, clear milestones for progress, and can demonstrate healthy growth, you will have no problem raising more when you need it.
Can you run us through your business model? How do you monetize? Do you work with specific vendors?
Walid: Rabbit’s magic is only possible because we control the end-to-end experience. We source directly from producers and manufacturers, and we store them in our dark stores.
When a customer places an order through our app, Our system immediately assigns it to a “order picker” - a Rabbit that prepares the order at lightning speed and hands it to the rider for delivery. This is all enabled seamlessly through our tech.
Tarek: Our main sources of revenue are the product margins (since we work directly with the suppliers) and delivery fees.
Can you talk to us about how many users you have registered as well as the areas you currently serve?
Ismail: Rabbit currently operates in 6 neighborhoods across greater Cairo: Maadi, Zamalek, Mohandessin, Nasr City, Heliopolis, and Haram. We are planning to expand to more neighborhoods very soon, so stay tuned!
Let’s talk statistics. Can you share how many orders you receive in a day/week/month and how much the average customer bill is? Can you share stats on your username (demographics, etc)? We are happy to hear any interesting data that can shed light on Egypt’s consumer base keeping in mind most of our readers are finance savvy.
Ismail: In 2021, in just 75 days of operation, we delivered more than 100,000 items to the tens of thousands of customers that relied on us. In doing that, we saved over one YEAR of our customers’ time!
Our riders drove over 80,000 Kms - that’s more than two full trips around the world.
The overall retail industry in Egypt is expected to reach $137.5Bn by 2025. “Food & grocery” remains the dominant sector within retail1, standing at $60.1 Bn in 2020, and is expected to grow to 97.5 Bn by 2025.2 As you can see, this is a huge space with a lot of potential.
How big is your team and fleet?
Yousry: Our team is now 100+ Rabbits strong, and we are multiplying rapidly - like rabbits do!
What does innovation look like in your field?
Walid: As I mentioned earlier, Rabbit runs on 3 tech platforms - each specifically built-for-purpose. Our customer mart platform was thoughtfully designed to replicate the traditional grocery shopping experience but present it in a way fit for digital consumption, mimicking browsing, flow and selection. Meanwhile, our warehouse automation tech is built to enable FAST and efficient picking and order preparation. Finally, our last-mile platform is critical to enable the efficient and frictionless completion of the delivery.
I also want to call out specifically our state-of-the-art real-time stock tracking system. This was a conscious investment we decided to make, and another key differentiator for Rabbit. All of this comes together to bring the magical experience that is Rabbit today, from click to door in minutes, with no calls.
What would you say are your top 3 expenses in running your company?
Tarek: Our business model is based on running our own fulfillment centers. This definitely makes up a large chunk of our costs. We have also invested in building a state-of-the-art tech backbone. Building and maintaining this kind of tech infrastructure does not come cheap, especially as we continue to add new products and features. However, it is only thanks to these two that we are able to deliver our core value proposition of speed and reliability, so they are well-placed investments.
What are your next plans going forward? Raise additional funding? Expand further in Egypt? Any plans to eventually become regional, or are you just focusing on Egypt for now?
Yousry: Right now, our number one priority is focusing on the customer experience. Delivering on our promise of 20 minutes is existential to our success with further expansion.
We have ambitious growth plans across various fronts, not just geographical expansion. We are constantly expanding our selection of products and adding new categories. We are also hiring and growing our team rapidly to enable us to continue to make magic for our customers. Finally, on the tech front, we are adding new products and features to our app every week.
Copyright © 2022 Arab Finance Brokerage Company All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
