- Shorages, UAE’s logistics startup, has closed its Seed funding round of $700,000, led by Mayfair Holdings.
- Founded by Rayan Osseiran in 2019, Shorages provides e-commerce platforms with digital, regulatory, and warehouse infrastructure needed for online sales in the GCC region.
- The startup will employ the fund in locally expanding and talent acquisition; as it plans to launch more warehouses across UAE.
Shorages, a UAE-based e-commerce fulfillment startup has raised a seed round of US $700,000 to enable international e-commerce brands to tap into the GCC market.
Shorages, which launched its fulfillment services in December 2019, offers brands the digital, regulatory, and warehouse infrastructure needed to unlock online sales in the GCC. Its fulfillment centers around the UAE are prepared to receive inventory and dispatch orders across the GCC region.
Over the past two years, Shorages supported several brands’ launches and scaled their online business when many brands were transitioning towards e-commerce. They recently secured agreements to partner with multiple highly recognized international brands for 2022, including a US-based brand aggregator that has achieved $500 million+ in revenue abroad.
The latest seed round will primarily be used for local expansion and hiring as the company plans to launch more warehouses in the UAE. In particular, the company is working on a free zone warehousing solution that would reduce the cost of shipping for their brands. Shorages is also looking to expand its team of developers further to grow its order fulfillment and inventory management systems.
How does Shorages work?
First, Shorages receives inventory in one of their fulfillment centers in the UAE. Once done, Shorages will integrate their order fulfillment system with a brands’ website. After that, once an order is received on the website, Shorages’ fulfillment team will pick and pack orders before dispatching them with the last-mile courier for delivery across the GCC. The company offers this service across multiple order types such as Amazon FBA, FBM, Noon, and website orders.
In addition, the company acts as a distributor for certain key brands they partner with. Shorages CEO Rayan Osseiran adds: “At Shorages, we have realized how time-consuming and costly it is for direct-to-consumer brands to set up a local operation. As such, we have made it our mission to build the fulfillment and distribution services needed for a quick and cost-effective springboard into the market”.
The round was led by Mayfair Holdings, the family office of Mr. Sudhir Maheshwari, alongside other angel investors and serial entrepreneurs. Sudhir Maheshwari noted: “Our investment into Shorages was a result of our conviction in this disruptive retail model as well as our belief in the team to execute upon this vision.” Shorages is also an MBRIF and Startup Bootcamp Accelerator alumnus.
