Orisdi raises a 6 figure bridge round, led by international investors

Orisdi, the leading e-commerce store in Iraq, has successfully raised a six-figure bridge round led by Innovest Middle East VC and a group of angel investors, including Amar Shubar, a partner at Management Partners Consulting, and Omar Al-Handal, the Managing director of Al Handal International Group.

Orsidi was founded in February 2019 by Ahmed Al Kiremli, Hussain Ali and Azer Al Akaish. It focuses on providing its customers with a wide range of products with a unique customer experience. The three co-founders bootstrapped the e-commerce startup that has now reached an impressive seven figures in net sales, with over 30,000 product SKUs, making it the fastest-growing e-commerce store in Iraq. Orisdi’s compound monthly growth rate since launching has been 23%, with a plan to grow an additional 15% month over month.

Prior to the bridge funding round, Orisdi received a seven-figure valuation by raising a seed round of six-figures that was led by local and international angel investors such as Nour Sabri from IBM, Mohammed Shaikley, Kerem Danish from Mr Usta, Ammar Jaafer from Colors, and Ahmed Emad from ITC.

Bassam Falah, founder & managing partner of Innovest Middle East VC says, “Innovest has been one of the first regional VCs to enter the Iraqi market, and despite all challenges, our long-term outlook remains optimistic about the potentials and business opportunities in Iraq. Our recent investment in Orisdi is yet another testament to our continued belief in Iraq’s startup ecosystem and its young and promising talents.”

The retail industry is evolving in Iraq and consumer behavior has shifted from shopping in physical stores to purchasing online. A few years ago, the Iraqi consumer started buying products online via social media platforms, which usually involved a lot of fraud and risk. Seeing a gap in the market for a trusted local e-commerce platform site, Orisdi was founded in 2019, providing Iraq’s consumers with a one-stop-shop for competitively priced products. They offered a reliable delivery and returns policy, a trustworthy and user-friendly platform, and leading customer service.

As the e-commerce industry is still relatively new in Iraq, Orisdi is paving the way with its offerings, focusing on being a customer-centric company and extending its customer lifetime value. Orisdi was the first platform in the Iraqi market to focus on creating a great customer experience, and offering 48 hours return & exchange policy with no shipping fee, to ensure that the customer has a better shopping experience and to close the gap of the customers who lack trust in online shopping in Iraq.

Amar Shubar, a partner of Management Partners Consulting says, “At Management Partners, we are seeing a strong double-digit growth over the next years in the eCommerce market in Iraq, which is still at an early stage compared to the rest of the region. Besides convenience and wider product range access, Iraqi consumers are looking for price-competitive offers - even more now due to the recent devaluation of the Iraqi dinar. Classical shop retail in Iraq suffers from high distribution inefficiency and sub-scale economics, which lead to 20-30% higher retail prices compared to the UAE. Orisdi’s e-commerce model and innovative supply chain approach address the current inefficiencies in the Iraqi retail market as well the consumers’ needs for price-competitive offers, a wider product range, and increased convenience’’.

Omar Al-Handal, Managing Director of Al Handal International Group says, "For the past two years, Al-Handal International Group has been closely monitoring the exponential growth in the Iraqi online market, specifically E-commerce, which demonstrated promising results for the future. After conducting various business studies between different E-commerce businesses, we are confident that Orisdi would be the perfect fit for us, as they are held to be leaders in the Iraqi online market’’.

Kerem Danish, Chief Operating Officer of Mr Usta believes that, “While there are many things to unlock in the country, Ahmed and the team demonstrated that if a bold but savvy approach is taken now, Orisdi could really disrupt the traditional commerce market in Iraq and offer great value to its consumers, as well as to its investors’’.

Ahmed Al Kiremli, Co-Founder & CEO of Orisdi says, “Orisdi’s vision is to be the Amazon of Iraq, and what will enable us to achieve this big vision is our customer obsession approach, the brand, product range, our cutting edge marketing techniques and the efficiency of our processes. Our top priority is putting customer needs and convenience at the center of everything we do across all departments by providing a great customer experience as a customer-centric company’’.

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About Orisdi

Orisdi is the leading online store in Iraq that offers a broad range of products, such as perfumes, cosmetics, stationery, electronics, groceries, toys, baby care products, appliances, and home & kitchen products.

The brand name Orisdi is inspired by a famous department store in Iraq that was widely popular at the beginning of the 20th century, with the name (Orosdi-Back). It was renowned for its wide selection of products, brands, and competitive pricing. In the Iraqi accent, most people pronounced it Orisdi or Orizdi. Orisdi wants to reconnect with peoples’ memories of this well-known store and offer them an online shopping experience that is entirely new to Iraq.

© Press Release 2021