Egypt-based online freight shipping platform Nowlun raises $1.7M Seed round

🚢 Nowlun, an online freight forwarding platform allowing customers to compare between different services and rates, has raised $1.7 million in Seed funding.

• The company was founded in 2021 by Moataz Khamis, Mahmoud Khaled, and Ahmed Emara, Nowlun offers a system that allows users to manage and track shipments effectively.

💰 Investor lowdown: The round was led by Nama Ventures, A15, with participation from 500 MENA and several angel investors.

⚙️ Breaking it down

Nowlun enables businesses to instantly compare rates from 30+ shipping lines with transparent pricing and book shipments in three clicks.

Its platform offers real-time tracking, market rates for bulk shipping, competitive pricing, and efficient document and container management, ensuring a seamless logistics experience.

🐂 Bull case

1. The MENA’s region's logistics market is projected to reach $222.63 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of over 6.36% from 2024.
2. Investments like Egypt’s $6.6 billion maritime upgrades to double container capacity strengthen the region’s logistics backbone.
3. Strong traction in Saudi – always helps.

🔮 Flashforward

Nowlun will use the fresh funding to enhance its platform to provide real-time rates for sea-freight, streamlining the shipping process for its customers.

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‍Premium insight

Regionally, Zencargo, a British logistics freight forwarding company, established a presence in Dubai in 2022 as part of the UAE’s Economy Ministry’s NextGenFDI program. Zencargo, which specialises in sea, air, and road freight, has raised a total of £42 million in funding and was targeting revenues exceeding €230 million in 2022. However, it remains unclear whether the company is still actively operational on the ground in the UAE.

On a global scale, the largest competitor in the space is Flexport, the US-based logistics giant that has raised over $2.7 billion in funding since its founding in 2014 and is currently valued at $8 billion. Flexport operates on a much broader scale, providing services across ocean, air, and road freight, alongside supply chain optimization and advanced logistics software integration for enhanced insights and analytics.

Flexport has faced challenges in recent years. Following rapid growth during the pandemic driven by a surge in e-commerce, the company was forced to undertake significant layoffs last year as it adapted to a slowdown. Additionally, it burned through substantial cash reserves and made a costly acquisition of an unprofitable fulfillment business. This ultimately led to reliance on a recent cash injection from Shopify to stabilize operations and signal market confidence.

A more relevant example for Nowlun to draw inspiration from might be Nowports, the LATAM digital freight forwarder. Nowports shares a similar regional focus and operational strategy, leveraging technology to simplify freight processes in emerging markets. Over time, Nowports has expanded its offerings to include air and ground freight alongside sea freight, introduced inventory financing and factoring solutions, and provided cargo and container insurance for risk management – seems like quite the roadmap.