The leading online car marketplace Syarah, secured $20 million (SAR75 million) for its Series B investment round co-led by Impact46 and Elm company. The investment round aims to broaden the platform’s offering, improve the quality of the services and expand to new markets across the region. The investment round included participation from Budget (United International Transportation Co.), Vision Ventures, and Yousef Al-Rashidi, the founder of Haraj.
Founded back in 2015 by Salah Sharef and Fayez Al-Anazi, a team with deep experience in the automotive and e-commerce industries, their collective experience is a reflection of the growth the platform has achieved. Syarah is redefining how cars are being bought in the automotive industry in Saudi Arabia, providing consumers with a convenient and hassle-free experience for buying cars online and having the cars delivered to their doorstep. Seeing the adoption of technology and the high demand for buying cars online, in 2019, Syarah has expanded its offering by selling used cars online in addition to new cars. Each used car sold online comes with a free car inspection report, a five-day money-back guarantee, and a one-year warranty. Through the platform, Syarah provides its users with a wide selection of more than 2,300 new and used cars available for sale online.
“Syarah’s technology-focused model has been a huge fuel to the growth of the platform exceeding SAR300 million in sales and a rapid growth rate within a very short period. As the platform continues to improve its services in the local market, Syarah is planning to expand its operation in the Mena region,” said Fayez Al-Anazi, the co-founder of Syarah.
Syarah plans to use the recently acquired fund to further shape its offering towards users’ needs, provide complementary and wide options of services and strengthen its activities by establishing its own distribution centres in Saudi Arabia. The warehouse represents a milestone in Syarah’s development efforts, where it aims to increase its stock to more than 1,000 used cars that have gone through an in-house inspection and reconditioning phase and are available to collect from the platform.
Salah Sharef, CEO and co-founder of Syarah said “We have successfully sold more than 6,000 cars online so far, and with this new investment, we intend to significantly grow our inventory and sales over the next few months.”
Majid Alarifi, the Vice President of Marketing At Elm, said “Elm investment is in line with the company strategy in building a strong base and supporting the ecosystem locally, creating a promising future for a startup in different sectors. Elm follow-on investment in Syarah reflects the platform’s ability to continue achieving remarkable events and driving Syarah further.”
“The platform is targeting a largely fragmented market in the Kingdom and it has created an opportunity within by providing digital solutions that cater to the consumer trends and facilitates the process of buying cars online. We’re proud to continue the journey with Syarah led by Salah and Fayez in expanding their footprint to new markets،” said Abdulaziz Al-Omran, Managing Partner of Impact46.
