Startup Yassir secured $150 million from global investors in North Africa’s largest fundraising as the tech firm seeks to roll out its super app overseas.
(Bloomberg) — Startup Yassir secured $150 million from global investors in North Africa’s largest fundraising as the tech firm seeks to roll out its super app overseas.
Yassir, which started in Algeria, offers on-demand services for ride hailing, banking, food and grocery delivery. It raised the money from backers led by San Francisco-based technology investment firm BOND, with participation from DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital, Stanford Alumni Ventures and Y Combinator, according to a statement.
Since it was launched by Stanford University alumnus Noureddine Tayebi in 2017, Yassir has raised $193 million. Yassir’s most recent round is the largest ever tech investment round in North Africa, according to Dubai-based Magnitt.
Super apps bring together multiple services onto one online platform. Dubai-based Careem is trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from sovereign wealth funds and other investors to develop its offering beyond ride-hailing.
The funds will be used to expand beyond its core markets in the so-called Maghreb countries — Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia — and to parts of Africa and other regions, according to Yassir’s Tayebi. With many Africans lacking bank accounts, digital platforms like Yassir target consumers who want to conduct business via mobile phones.
“We believe technology will foundationally rearchitect consumers’ relationship with daily needs — transportation, food, financial services — not just in developed countries, but in every corner of the world,” says Daegwon Chae, general partner at BOND. “This investment is an extension of that belief in an underserved but dynamic, rapidly growing region.”
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