Our investment in Revibe, the MENA marketplace for refurbished electronics
Summary
With Revibe, consumers have access to the latest versions of electronic devices, at a discount of up to 50%, while reducing their carbon footprints. Since we invested in December of last year, Revibe has multiplied its GMV and revenue by 5x and is growing at a speed we have rarely seen.In December of last year, we met with Hamza, and Abdessamad, 2 French/Moroccan who studied at Ecole Polytechnique in France, before setting up inDubai to work in strategy consulting. Hamza launched Peekaboo Nannies, a C2C nanny marketplace that he brought to profitability while working late nights and weekends!A very large market that needs to be addressed by a local companyWorking for telecoms operators in the MENA regions, they realized that the Middle east market was ripe for disruption when it comes to electronics refurbishment. Today, there are in Dubai hundreds of local refurbishers of all sizes who are currently mainly selling abroad, that Revibe can easily plug into.Demand for affordable smartphones is strong and growing: There is a massive adoption of Apple and Samsung smartphones in the region (51% of people have one of the two brands in UAE and Saudi Arabia) and are by far the brands driving the growth of refurbished marketplaces. Lastly valued at $5.5b, making it the second most valuable French tech company, Back Market is currently available in 14 EU countries and the US.