Cargoz Secures Seed Funding for Expansion into the Saudi Market
Cargoz, an emerging logistics service company focused on providing innovative storage solutions, has received initial funding led by Nama Ventures, with participation from RAZ Holding, Innovest Properties, major regional family offices, and angel investors specialized in logistics. Cargoz’s business model resembles Airbnb but in the field of commercial storage and warehousing.
Founded in January 2022 by Premalal Polisseri, CEO, and Lijo Antony, CTO, Premalal brings over two decades of experience in storage and logistics in the GCC, providing the company with deep expertise and broad market knowledge.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), significantly impacted, faced difficulties in adhering to costly annual warehouse leasing or storage contracts. These companies started looking for storage options offering greater flexibility, like monthly or weekly billing and payment only for used space. Meanwhile, warehouse owners and operators had unused additional storage capacities.
Cargoz’s platform aims to connect these two groups, aiding SMEs to acquire on-demand storage spaces through an extremely user-friendly platform.
Since its initial funding round in mid-2022, Cargoz has experienced remarkable revenue growth, with a 1700% monthly increase and a 2200% increase in monthly active customers. The company has served hundreds of clients and possesses extensive active storage spaces throughout the United Arab Emirates.
Cargoz plans to enhance its regional expansion, focusing initially on Saudi Arabia, intending to use its initial funding primarily to launch operations in Saudi Arabia in Q1 2024.
Premalal, the co-founder and CEO, believes the company has underestimated the pain and frustration SMEs face in finding flexible storage solutions. He points out that the company’s recent rapid growth is evidence of solving a significant problem that has existed for decades. With several new software products to be introduced in the coming months, the company hopes to provide the best experience for SMEs seeking storage options in the Emirates and soon in Riyadh as well.
Mohammed Al-Zubi, founder and managing partner at Nama Ventures, expressed great admiration for the progress and momentum achieved by Premalal and Lijo in this short period. He noted their ability to demonstrate the significant need for flexible storage faced by SMEs. He affirmed that this funding round would enable Cargoz to continue supporting its clients in the UAE and expand to Saudi Arabia, offering innovative technological solutions in warehousing and storage. He expressed enthusiasm for seeing the contributions this team will make to SMEs in the region.
