Sary, a Saudi-based B2B online marketplace raised $6.6 million in a Series A round. Raed Ventures led the round with participation from China’s MSA Capital and Saudi-based Derayah Ventures.

Sary is expanding its reach within Saudi Arabia. It plans to open two new offices by the end of this year, which will enable it to cater to an additional 25 cities. The investment will also support the development of new revenue streams, the creation of an enhanced product roadmap, and the optimization of an innovative user experience, taking Sary to untapped customer segments.

 “Now more than ever, we understand that the market doesn’t need more warehouses and trucks, but rather technology that synchronizes the fragmented industry into real-time virtual inventory.”

Mohamed Aldossary, Co-Founder & CEO, Sary

Mohammed Aldossary, Careem’s former Riyadh General Manager and Khaled Alsiari, founded Sary in 2018. Their goal was to fix the broken supply chain in the wholesale industry. The startup connects small businesses including mini-supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, and hotels, making it easy for small businesses to procure their inventory.

Mohamed Aldossary, the co-founder and CEO of Sary, said that in March alone they made sales equal to 50% of what they did in 2019. “There is a huge surge in retail sales, and we are on track to do sales worth 1 billion riyals ($266 million) this year,” he states.

Using the Sary app, small businesses can order different types of fast-moving consumer goods including milk, tea and coffee, water, soft drinks, juices, oil, chocolate and a lot more.

Aldossary states, “now more than ever, we understand that the market doesn’t need more warehouses and trucks, but rather technology that synchronizes the fragmented industry into real-time virtual inventory.”

As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia tries to stop COVID-19 from spreading, the government has put Saudi’s major cities under curfew. As a result, small businesses are having difficulty visiting wholesale markets to procure inventory. These businesses are turning to digital solutions like Sary to keep their shelves stocked.

Sary’s app has attracted more than 20,000 downloads by SME owners, and served mini-market chains, convenience shops, hotels, restaurants and catering in 15 cities in the Kingdom over the last 12 months.