Logistics and self-storage startup Wheekeep raised SAR 30 mn (USD 8 mn) in a series A round led by New York-based venture capital firm Fintech Collective, it said on X. Unnamed local and international investors also participated in the round.

Use of proceeds: The funding will finance the company’s short-term growth in the local market, especially in the Eastern and Western regions, Aleqtesadiah quotes unnamed company executives as saying. They also have plans for franchising and expansion into the GCC in the medium term, the sources added.

What we don’t know: There’s no publicly available information on the equity the investors received in return for their investment.

What’s Wheekeep? Founded in 2020, the storage solutions provider caters to individuals and businesses alike by delivering its mobile storage units to their customers’ doorstep to fill up, and then takes them back to their storage facilities. The startup also offers a space calculator to allow customers to gauge exactly how much space they need before delivery.

Fintech Collective’s portfolio in the region: The VC participated last year in a USD 25 mnfunding round by fintech player Qlub which offers in-store payment solutions here, in the UAE, Turkey, Indian, Japan, Australia and Brazil. Fintech Collective also participated in a USD 12 mn seed round in 2022 for spend-management platform Pemo which is based out of the UAE but also has operations in the Kingdom, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Pakistan. Also part of their portfolio is the UAE-based peer-to-peer payment app Ziina.

IN OTHER STARTUP NEWS-

500 Global is kicking off the final round of its latest batch of the Sanabil 500 MENA seed accelerator in partnership with PIF-owned Sanabil Investments, it said in a press release. The accelerator supports pre-seed and seed-stage startups that scale up through a 12-week mentorship program that focuses on “business strategy development, fundraising, and growth.” It also offers equity investment of more than USD 100k to selected startups.

The final stage will culminate in a demo day slated for Wednesday, 29 May, at the Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh, and will feature seven finalists. Applications for the next batch are now open and will close on 6 August.

Meet the finalists: Saudi startups include Agile Loop, Doos, Fai, and Sweply. Meanwhile, hailing from UAE are Comfi, Metric, Octa, Poultry Sync, Reno, and Sav. MLNetworks is from Morocco and Desert Farms from the US.

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