Mo Elshenawy, a veteran in technology and operations, brings a wealth of experience from his role as President and Chief Technology Officer at Cruise, where he led the company’s strategic and operational execution, focusing on the development of autonomous driving solutions. 

With a background spanning AI, robotics, and advanced sensor technology, Elshenawy’s expertise aligns well with Wasoko and MaxAB’s goal of driving innovative growth across African markets.

In his new role, Elshenawy will focus on optimising Wasoko and MaxAB’s technology infrastructure and advancing AI-driven tools for pricing, product selection, and route optimisation. 

He will play a central role in scaling the company’s technical capabilities and transforming the merged platform into a comprehensive super app, encompassing digital top-ups, e-payments, and credit financing. 

Mo Elshenawy has expressed a personal connection to the mission, seeing this opportunity as a way to support Africa’s digital transformation and strengthen its impact globally.

Elshenawy’s career spans over two decades, with notable roles including Executive Vice President at Cruise, where he managed large engineering and research teams, spearheading cutting-edge developments in autonomous vehicle technology. 

He has also served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Cruise, focusing on testing, safety, and data security. Before his time at Cruise, he held leadership roles at Amazon, where he served as Head of Global Technology for Amazon Warehouse Deals and the Core Recommerce Platform. 

His early career included roles in software engineering and architecture at SCH Business Solutions and ASSET Technology Group, establishing a solid foundation in systems engineering and strategic operations.

Wasoko and MaxAB’s combined entity, now valued at over $500 million, has received backing from investors, including VNV Global, which holds a 2.4% stake in the business, valued at $12.6 million. 

VNV’s valuation is based on a revenue multiple of 2.6, a benchmark used to assess similar companies in the industry. Before the merger, Wasoko and MaxAB had raised over $230 million in funding, with Wasoko reaching a $625 million valuation in 2022, though this later adjusted to $260 million in 2023 due to a decline in sales to small informal retailers.

The merger, initially announced in December 2023, is a consolidation in Africa’s digital retail sector. With Elshenawy’s leadership and strategic insight, Wasoko and MaxAB push digital commerce in Africa by expanding their platform’s abilities to meet changing consumer needs and drive economic transformation across the continent.

Conducted as an all-stock transaction, the deal establishes a truly Pan-African platform for communities to access essential digital and physical goods, marking Wasoko and MaxAB’s evolution from B2B e-commerce companies to a multi-vertical ecosystem for Africa’s $600 billion informal retail sector.

Leveraging Wasoko and MaxAB’s extensive, hyper-localised online and offline expertise across Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt and Morocco, the newly-formed entity boasts the continent’s largest network of B2B informal retailers of more than 450,000 merchants, connected to more than 65 million consumers.

Following detailed diligence and planning, Wasoko and MaxAB successfully integrated the tech stacks and operations of both companies in under 60 days with remarkable results.

The combined company’s unrivalled retailer network and offerings have enabled the launch of new business units beyond e-commerce and the development of AI systems powering pricing, product selection, demand prediction, and route optimisation through an unparalleled archive of high-quality, localised data stemming from millions of transactions across its individual markets.

Independent business units now handle fintech offerings including e-payments, credit financing and digital services topups in addition to e-commerce through a unified app with extensive services for African informal retailers.

The platform’s fintech verticals have rapidly overtaken B2B e-commerce in Egypt, the group’s largest market, with digital services alone generating over $180 million in annualised sales to 7 million consumers through 40,000 retailers.

In the past year, the rollout of another fintech vertical focused on credit financing has disbursed over $20 million worth of financing to retailers with repayment rates exceeding 99% further demonstrating the impact of fintech within the company’s wider strategy to unlock the full potential of Africa’s informal retailers.

This success is expected to continue with fintech revenue projected to more than double year-on-year by December 2024.

With over 4,000 employees, the combined company will be led by Daniel Yu, CEO of Wasoko, and Belal El-Megharbel, CEO of MaxAB, who will serve as Co-CEOs and company board directors alongside existing Wasoko and MaxAB investors.

Other key shareholders of the combined company include late-stage growth investors such as Silver Lake, Tiger Global, Lunate, VNV Global, British International Investment, and Avenir Growth alongside leading regional and global venture investors such as Beco Capital, 4DX Ventures, Quona Capital, Amplo, Breyer Capital, AHL Ventures, Endure Capital, and Flourish Ventures.

Speaking about the announcement, Daniel Yu, Co-CEO at Wasoko and MaxAB, says,

“Building on burgeoning trade ties between North and East Africa, this deal unifies the leading B2B players in both regions, establishing an unmatched platform for serving communities across the continent. Through our integrated technology stack, our expanded Pan-African reach uniquely positions us to offer the best products and services from across Africa at maximum accessibility and affordability, supercharging our growth beyond what either company could achieve independently.”

The combined company’s B2B e-commerce service has also experienced strong growth, with core e-commerce operations now profitable in the majority of markets while the platform’s own private label products drive over 10% of total e-commerce sales.

These private label products include essential goods such as cooking oil, rice and tomato paste and are the focus for new cross-border sourcing initiatives to increase intra-Africa trade within the combined group.

Having first met during their respective seed investment financings back in 2018, Yu and El-Megharbel built and scaled their e-commerce companies supplying informal retailers, becoming market leaders in their respective regions.

Both companies introduced financing options for their networks as well as advanced data analytics for suppliers and retailers. The close of a tech merger on this scale is a first for Africa which both founders hope will set the standard for growing businesses at scale on the continent.

“This merger proves that massive, world-class tech companies can be built in Africa for Africa,” says Belal El-Megharbel, Co-CEO at Wasoko and MaxAB. “As first-movers, we fully embrace our responsibility to drive the development of a mature and thriving ecosystem, building foundational infrastructure that will empower future companies to fully unlock Africa’s vast economic potential in years to come.”