UAE E-Commerce Experts Opontia Secures $20M in Seed Round

Dubai-based e-commerce startup, Opontia, has raised $20 million in seed funding, marking one of the largest seed rounds in the MENA region.

Launched only in March 2021, Philip Johnston and Manfred Meyer founded Opontia with the aim of enabling e-commerce entrepreneurs to unlock the potential of their brands. Fundamentally, Opontia has a vision to nurture and build the region’s entrepreneurial e-commerce ecosystem.

Following the funding round, Meyer spoke of the region’s e-commerce market, saying “the market in the Middle East and Africa region is currently less mature than in the West but is growing much faster than any other market in the world, with the number of entrepreneurs selling on marketplaces growing at over 50% per year.”'

He continued, “the business model will work here because there have been so many amazing entrepreneurs in the Middle East coming up over the last few years. It’s a great opportunity for sellers to be able to realise some of the hard work from building their brand so they can take some time off or work on their next big thing.”

The new funds will go towards investing in a team of exceptional e-commerce brands, as well as building a team of experienced MENA industry experts who will become responsible for managing and growing beneficiary brands after acquisition.

The startup has already recruited a premium team with considerable experience obtained at Amazon, Noon, McKinsey, UberEats, and Namshi. Currently, Opontia operates in Dubai and Riyadh, but has big plans to open offices in Istanbul, Cairo, and Lagos in the coming months.