EGYPTIAN BASED START-UP AGTECH MOZARE3 TO RAISE $1 MILLION FOR FARM HOLDERS

Egyptian based Agri-fintech start-up, agtechMozare3 established by Hussein Abou Bakr and Tamer El-Raghyin 2020, seeks to serve over 20 million small farmers in Egypt.

COMPANY’S STATISTICAL DATA:

The start-up upheaved over $1million in a funding round led by Algebra Ventures and Disruptech Ventures, with the participation from EFG-EV, and a circle of respected Angel investors. The company didn’t reveal the precise amount it raised butconcluded by saying that it was a seven-figure sum. This means it assured at least EGP1 million, or $64,000, but less than $640,000. Pre-seed rounds in the country generally range in the $100,000-$350,000 bracket, though in unprecedented cases have gone up as high as $5 million. The agricultural sector contributes more than 10 per cent to Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 25 per cent of the country’s manpower.

THE BACKDROP OFOWNERS AND THE COMPANIES:

Mozare3 was founded in 2020 by Hussein Abou Bakr andTamer El-Raghy with the endorsement ofMohamed Okasha. As a third-generation Agri serial businessman, Abou Bakrintroduces to Mozare3with 20 years of experience in small-scale and commercial farming, food processing, and international trading. BeforeMozare3, Abou Bakr founded Planform; a leading Agri-processor and exporter that obtained from smallholder farmers in over 10 governorates in Egypt.

Currently,the MD of Acumen Capital Partners; a leading impact Agri VC fund manager in Africa, El-Raghyintroduce greater than 10 years of experience in M&A, PE and VC investments in the agriculture and food space in Africa.

The MP of Disruptech Ventures, Okashabrings over 12 years of experience in the fintech space as the co-founder of Fawryandex-MD, beforeMozare3, Abou Bakr founded Planform; a dominating Agri-processor and exporter that sourced from smallholder farmers in over 10 governorates in Egypt.

OBJECTIVES OF THE START-UP:

The main objective of Mozare3 is to create the first-ever digital company which can serve the smallholders, undeserved and unbankable Egyptian farmers. To propose them with the agronomy, financial and market aid through its network of subject matter experts. And also assisting and supplying them with pre-seeding and with access to markets and credit. Mozare3aids farmers with the selling of their crops by functioning with institutional buyers, like processors of frozen vegetable and large wholesalers and retailers.

The start-up signs offtake accordance with the farmers to buy their produce’s future output at a certain price for the institutional buyer. It helps farmers to diminish the risk of failing tofind a buyer when the crop is ready to be sold but more significantly the focal point remainson doing what they can do to their best effort and leave everything to the Mozare3.

THE STATEMENTS OF OWNERS AND THE CO-PARTNERS:

Hussein Abou Bakr, the establisher of Mozare3 in an interview said that “Egyptian smallholder farmers have limited access to financing and no direct access to markets. We believe that an Agri-fintech platform focused on those farmers, like Mozare3, would revolutionize the way farmers plan, farm and sell their crops.”“We aim to grow our network of farmers who we have offtake agreements to up to 2,500 and have between 25 to 50 institutional buyers by the end of 2022.” He concluded.

Tamer El-Raghy, co-founder of Mozare3 said “While the Agri sector contributes more than 10% of the GDP and 25% of national employment, farmland is very fragmented with more than 40% of the farms with an area of less than 1 acre. This fragmentation represents an opportunity for an Agri-fintech platform, like Mozare3, to bring efficiencies to the supply side, by providing those farmers with innovative financial products, agronomy support and access to markets, and hence turn those farmers into contract-farmers, to fulfil the growing demand of consumers, processors and exporters.”

Tarek Assaad, The Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, said “The agriculture industry suffers from price opaqueness, supply fragmentation and high levels of fraud, to name a few of the challenges. We believe that it is one of the segments of the Egyptian economy that can benefit the most from tech efficiencies. We had been looking at making an Agri-tech investment for some time and are delighted to support Hussein and Tamer as they address this massive opportunity. We were impressed by the vision, capabilities and passion of the Mozare3 team, and we are excited to be part of their journey.”

Mohamed Okasha, Managing Partner at Disruptech said, “Very excited to lead this round for Mozare3 – a large, underserved segment and very experienced management team. We have been working closely with the Mozare3 founding team for a year to launch the first Agri-Fintech company in Egypt. We are very confident that Mozare3 will digitally transform this market and enable farmers to access finance and market information in a very innovative way. We are happy that Mozare3 is Disruptech’s first investment in 2021 and the fifth since launch.”

WAY TO THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS: Testing and trials to launch the app are in progress, which will eventually enable the small farm holders to sell their future goods through digital offtake agreements, access credit, receive agronomy support and buy fertilizers and other products to expand their crop production.Mozare3 plans to use the funds to construct its tech empire, enlarge its team and enhance its network of farmers. Lastly, all the members of the start-up concluded with the statement that, “We are very confident that Mozare3 will digitally transform this market and enable farmers to access finance and market information in a very innovative way.”