Iraq’s Orderii Raises Six-Figure Pre-Seed Round
Orderii, a cross-border e-commerce platform closed a 6-figure pre-seed round in October 2022. The platform provides logistics services for sought-after goods only available on foreign sites.
KAPITA’s Iraqi Angel Investors Network (IAIN) facilitated the investment. Mujahed Waisi, CEO of KAPITA, said “Orderii is one of the alumni startups of Orange Corners Baghdad and Scaleup Academy, We are happy to see startups going through the pipeline we started to train them and make them investment ready to IAIN”. He added “we are glad to see this investment and to have an investment firm like IVP in the ecosystem.”
Iraq Venture Partners (IVP) raised the investment round and plans to continue to support Orderii in fundraising for future rounds. Zahi Hilal, Investment Manager at IVP, commented, “Shakir has what it takes to grow a business in Iraq. He is operationally savvy and knows the Iraqi consumer. He has built a strong team and shown impressive traction without any external funding thus far. Now with funding, we look forward to seeing him take Orderii to the next level.”
Shakir originally founded Orderii seven years ago under the name “Shakir Amazon” in Baghdad. Recently, Orderii expanded its infrastructure and team to cater to a growing demand from Iraqi consumers for foreign products. This increase in demand stems from the increase in digital literacy and adoption of smartphones occurring among Iraq’s young population within the past several years.
Orderii has strong logistics relationships with key providers, enabling it to offer competitive shipping rates and shorter delivery times than its competitors. Unlike traditional e-commerce platforms, Orderii facilitates online shopping from foreign sites, offering authentic products which are inaccessible to the typical Iraqi consumer, and delivering them to the customer’s door.
Founder and CEO of Orderii, Shakir Ayad Al Jammas, commented, “We have been serving the Iraqi customer for several years now, enabling them to purchase products from brands that they cannot find in Iraq. We are eager to take Orderii to the next level with funding from investors and grow the business to serve the Iraqi customer even better than before.”
He continued, “With this funding, Orderii will increase its presence in key markets like Turkey, China, and the US to provide Iraqis with more variety. We will also improve the customer’s experience on our mobile app through the integration of more features which will enable a seamless checkout and package tracking experience.”
About KAPITA Business Hub:
KAPITA is a private sector development company that aims to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through investment, research, incubation/acceleration, and market development programs.
About IAIN:
The first Iraqi-focused angel network dedicated toward matching the expertise and capital of angel investors with rising start-ups in the country, with the ultimate goal of developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem and revitalizing the private sector in Iraq with the support of GIZ and The World Bank.