Mumzworld

Mumzworld operates an e-commerce marketplace dedicated to mother, baby and child products in the Middle East and North Africa. Founded in October 2011 in Dubai by Mona Ataya and Leena Khalil, the platform was built to address the difficulty mothers in the region faced in sourcing children's products and in accessing product information. It sells through web and mobile applications, working with thousands of retailers, distributors, manufacturers and brands that list products on the site. At the time of its 2018 funding round the company reported working with more than 2,700 partners and offering over 200,000 products, of which 20,000 were exclusive to the site; by 2021 the catalogue was described as over 250,000 products from 5,500 brands.

The company positions itself as the regional category leader in the mother, baby and child vertical, competing with horizontal marketplaces such as Amazon and Noon as well as vertical players including India's FirstCry, which has expanded into the Middle East. Its largest markets are the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with additional operations in Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Lebanon and delivery to more than 20 countries. In June 2021 Tamer Group, a Jeddah-based healthcare, beauty care and FMCG group that had previously invested in the company in 2018, agreed to acquire Mumzworld, describing the business as a foundation for its planned "Tamer Digital" vertical.

Founding story

Co-founder and CEO Mona Ataya previously worked at Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson and was a co-founder and VP of marketing at the MENA job site Bayt.com. While raising three children she found it difficult to obtain the products and advice she needed, and founded Mumzworld with Leena Khalil in October 2011 to serve mothers across the region online.

Business model

Mumzworld runs an online marketplace and retail platform on which retailers, distributors, manufacturers and brands sell mother, baby and child products to consumers, with the company managing the customer experience and supply chain for the category. Management stated an intention to continue owning the supply chain for mother and child.

Revenue is generated from online sales of mother, baby and child products across its web and mobile platforms and marketplace partners.

Traction

By 2018 the company reported serving about 2.5 million customers, offering more than 200,000 products from around 1,800 brands, sales growth of 15-fold over five years, revenue doubling in 2018 versus 2017, and headcount of 150 with plans to reach 240. By 2021 it reported over 2.5 million customers served, 250,000 products from 5,500 brands, more than a million monthly website visitors, over half a million Android app downloads, and 10x growth over the prior five years.

Latest developments

In June 2021 Tamer Group agreed to acquire Mumzworld, with financial details undisclosed. Tamer Group, which reported annual revenue of SAR 9.2 billion ($2.5bn), positioned the deal as the basis for a "Tamer Digital" vertical aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. Co-founders Mona Ataya and Leena Khalil were to remain material shareholders and board members.