Dubai-based logistics startup Cargoz has secured seed funding led by Nama Ventures with the participation of RAZ Holding, Innovest Properties, and key regional family offices and angels in the logistics space. The startup is looking to strengthen its regional expansion, starting with Saudi Arabia, and will primarily use its seed funding to launch its operation in KSA Q1 of 2024.
Cargoz was founded in January 2022 by Premlal Pullisserry (CEO) and Lijo Antony (CTO). Premlal has more than 20 years of combined warehousing and logistics experience in the GCC.
The company connects SMEs looking for warehousing space with warehousing companies that have extra capacity. It is similar to AirBnb but for commercial storage and warehousing.
After COVID, the SMEs that had to suffer the most no longer wanted to get into any yearly leasing of warehouses or have any expensive storage contracts. They are looking for storage space with monthly or weekly billing and pay for only the space they use. On the other hand, there are warehousing owners and operators who have plenty of extra capacity that is otherwise unused.
Since Cargoz’s pre-seed round in mid-2022, they have grown 1,700% MoM revenue and seen 2,200% monthly active customers. They’ve served hundreds of customers and have significant space under active storage across all emirates across the UAE.
“I think we underestimated the pain and frustration of finding on-demand storage for SMEs and how broken and stressful that experience was. The kind of growth we have seen in the last several months gives us an indication that we are solving a huge problem that has existed for several decades now. With many software products rolling out in the coming months, we hope to provide the best experience for SMEs that are looking for storage in both the UAE and shortly in Riyadh too,” says Premlal, co-founder and CEO.
“We first led the Cargoz pre-seed round back in June 2022, and we’ve been very impressed with the progress and traction that Premlal and Lijo have achieved in this short time,” said Mohammed Alzubi, founder and managing partner of Nama Ventures. “They’ve been able to demonstrate the significant need that SMEs have for flexible storage. This current round will allow Cargoz to continue supporting its clients in the UAE and also expand to KSA with its innovative smart technology offerings in the warehouse and storage space. We’re truly excited to see what this team has to offer regional SMEs and become their preferred storage partner.”
