Seez raises $6 million from strategic partners and VCs in a 5x oversubscribed Series A funding round.
The 3-year old tech startup facilitates the car shopping journey for buyers with its Seez App, which offers a smart search engine for car listings and proprietary, AI-powered pricing and negotiation tools. The funding will go towards several new verticals that tap into the $10 billion second-hand automotive market in the UAE, as well as other regional markets. One new Seez service is an online buying option that allows users to purchase cars entirely online. Meanwhile, newly-launched Seez Cross-Border Car Shopping, a fully-digital car import/export service, makes it possible for people in other countries to buy cars from the UAE using the app. Of the approximately 275,000 used cars sold in the UAE in 2019, close to half were for export outside the country (120,000 cars) — an unaddressed market with substantial potential.
“From the very beginning, we have been using technology to change how people shop for cars. During the first 3 years, we focused on building our product and growing our user base. Now we are leveraging this platform and using it as a launchpad for all these exciting new services we want to launch,” says CEO Tarek Kabrit.
The alliances forged between Seez and its strategic partners — regional automotive heavyweights who distribute a total of 9 top global car brands — fuels the startup’s product development while supporting the industry in its digital transformation, which means more disruptive and unique offerings for consumers.
Over the past 3 years, the Seez app has grown to 1 million users and expanded to 5 countries. With almost 500k cars listed on its platform, it serves as the largest car catalog in the region. As the company adds new services, it aims to benefit from synergies across various markets.
Seez has had strong, symbiotic relationships with the region’s auto industry for almost two years, providing leading OEMs and dealerships with a SaaS product that uses AI and big data to optimize businesses’ operations, as well as predictive analytics to plan inventory and pricing.
Other investors in the funding round include German VC Crealize, regional VCs Wamda, B&Y, and Phoenician Funds, as well as several angels. Seez had previously raised $3.2 million over two rounds, bringing its total funding to date to $9.2 million.
Press contact: olga@seez.co