Egyptian agritech startup, Mozare3, has raised over $1 million in a pre-seed round. Algebra Ventures, Disruptech, and some angel investors like EFG-EV, participated in the round.
Mozare3 CEO, Hussein Abou Bakr, and his Co-founder, Tamer El-Raghy, founded the company in 2020 to assist more than 20 million smallholder farmers in Egypt by making markets and credits accessible to them.
The startup also plans to develop the first digital community for Egyptian farmers and offer them agronomy support through its professional network.
The agritech startup assists farmers sell their crops by working with institutional buyers like frozen vegetable processors, large retailers, and wholesalers.
The farmers sign an offtake agreement -- an arrangement between a producer and a buyer to purchase or sell portions of the producer's future goods -- with Mozare3 to sell their produce at a particular price for institutional buyers.
This reduces the likelihood of the farmers not getting buyers after the harvest season. Most importantly, it encourages farmers to focus on their work without worrying about after-harvest sales.
According to MENabytes, Abou Bakr said they currently have offtake agreements with 100 farmers and three large institutional buyers.
Although most of Mozare3's work is done offline, a small group of farmers is currently beta testing its app.
With the app launch at the end of 2022, the company wants to reach over 10,000 farmers.
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It would also allow farmers to access credit, receive agronomy support, buy fertilisers and other products to grow crops, and sell their products through its digital offtake agreements.
Abou Bakr has over 20 years of experience in subsistence and commercial farming, food processing, and international trading. Before he founded Mozare3, he founded an agri processor and exporter, Plantform, that used to source produce from smallholders in over ten governorates in Egypt.
The CEO and the team hope to increase Mozare3's network to over 2,500 farmers with whom they have offtake agreements and increase its institutional buyers to over 37.
The Egyptian agritech startup plans to introduce credit solutions to fund purchases of different products like motorbikes for the farmers and their families.
El-Raghy believes that Mozare3 would make supply more efficient by providing farmers with innovative financial products and turning them into contract farmers to fulfil consumers' growing demand, processors, and exporters.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, approximately 24 million people -- over one-quarter of the population -- work in Egypt's farming and fishing sectors. And being a major component of the economy, 6.5 million people depend on agriculture for survival.
Perhaps Mozare3's plans to develop its tech, expand its team, and grow its network of farmers would help farmers and boost the economy as agriculture contributes 11.3% to the country’s gross domestic product.
Featured Image Credit: MENAbytes
