E-commerce Store Orisdi Raises 6 Figure Bridge Round

Orisdi, a leading e-commerce store in Iraq, has successfully raised a six-figure bridge round. The round was led by Innovest Middle East VC and a group of angel investors including Amar Shubar, Partner at Management Partners Consulting, and Omar Al-Handal, Managing director of Al Handal International Group.

Orsidi was founded in February 2019 by Ahmed Al Kiremli, Hussain Ali and Azer Al Akaish. It focuses on providing customers with a wide range of products and a unique customer experience. The three founders bootstrapped the e-commerce startup that has now reached an impressive seven figures in net sales. With over 30,000 products, Orsidi is the fastest-growing e-commerce store in Iraq. Orisdi’s compound monthly growth rate since launching has been 23%, with a plan to grow an additional 15% month by month.

Prior to the bridge funding round, Orisdi received a seven-figure valuation by raising a six-figure seed round led by local and international angel investors. The investors included Nour Sabri from IBM, Mohammed Shaikley, Kerem Danish from Mr Usta, Ammar Jaafer from Colors, and Ahmed Emad from ITC.

Innovest has been one of the first regional VCs to enter the Iraqi market, and despite all the challenges, our long-term outlook remains optimistic about the potentials and business opportunities in Iraq. Our recent investment in Orisdi is yet another testament to our continued belief in Iraq’s startup ecosystem and its young and promising talents.”

Bassam Falah, Founder and Managing Partner of Innovest Middle East VC

The retail industry is evolving in Iraq and consumer behavior has shifted from shopping in physical stores to purchasing online. A few years ago, the Iraqi consumer started buying products online via social media platforms, which usually involved a lot of fraud and risk. Seeing a gap in the market for a trusted local e-commerce platform site, Orisdi was founded in 2019, providing Iraq’s consumers with a one-stop shop for competitively priced products. They offered a reliable delivery and returns policy, a trustworthy and user-friendly platform, and leading customer service. As the e-commerce industry is still relatively new in Iraq, Orisdi is paving the way with its offerings, focusing on being a customer-centric company and extending its customer lifetime value.

At Management Partners, we are seeing strong, double-digit growth over the next years in the e-commerce market in Iraq, which is still at an early stage compared to the rest of the region. Besides convenience and wider product range access, Iraqi consumers are looking for price-competitive offers – even more now due to the recent devaluation of the Iraqi dinar. Classical shop retail in Iraq suffers from high distribution inefficiency and sub-scale economics, which lead to 20-30% higher retail prices compared to the UAE. Orisdi’s e-commerce model and innovative supply chain approach address the current inefficiencies in the Iraqi retail market as well the consumers’ needs for price-competitive offers, a wider product range, and increased convenience.

Amar Shubar, Partner of Management Partners Consulting

Orisdi was the first platform in Iraq to focus on creating a great customer experience, and offering a 48 hours return and exchange policy with no shipping fees. This is to ensure that customers have a better shopping experience and encourage trust in online shopping in Iraq

While there are many things to unlock in the country, Ahmed and the team demonstrated that if a bold but savvy approach is taken now, Orisdi could really disrupt the traditional commerce market in Iraq and offer great value to its consumers, as well as to its investors.

Kerem Danish, Chief Operating Officer of Mr Usta

For the past two years, Al-Handal International Group has been closely monitoring the exponential growth in the Iraqi online market, specifically e-commerce, which demonstrated promising results for the future. After conducting various business studies between different e-commerce businesses, we are confident that Orisdi would be the perfect fit for us, as they are held to be leaders in the Iraqi online market.

Omar Al-Handal, Managing Director of Al Handal International Group

About Orisdi

Orisdi is a leading online store in Iraq that offers a broad range of products such as perfumes, cosmetics, stationery, electronics, groceries, toys, and appliances.

The brand name, Orisdi, is inspired by a famous department store in Iraq that was widely popular at the beginning of the 20th century, with the name Orosdi-Back. It was renowned for its wide selection of products, brands, and competitive pricing. In the Iraqi accent, most people pronounced it Orisdi or Orizdi. Orisdi wants to reconnect with peoples’ memories of this well-known store and offer them an online shopping experience that is entirely new to Iraq.

Orisdi’s vision is to be the Amazon of Iraq. What will enable us to achieve this big vision is our customer obsessive approach, the brand, product range, our cutting edge marketing techniques, and the efficiency of our processes. Our top priority is putting customer needs and convenience at the center of everything we do by providing a great customer experience.

Ahmed Al Kiremli, Co-Founder and CEO, Orisdi