Tunisian startup Lamma, a quick commerce app designed for young, active Africans, is beginning its international expansion with a launch in Morocco.
Founded by Yassir El Ismaili El Edrissi, Hamza Guesmi and Koussi Aymen in 2020, Lamma delivers groceries, food, personal care, electronics and fashion items to users in less than 45 minutes, using a blend of dark stores and its partner network.
It actually began life as a ridesharing app, but pivoted into logistics in June of last year after taking part in the Flat6Labs Tunis accelerator programme.
“We believe e-commerce in Africa is suffering from last mile and payment inefficiencies. Cash on delivery and inability to deliver on the same day are obstacles Lamma is solving,” El Idrissi told Disrupt Africa.
Solving such challenges has helped it gain traction quickly. Since it pivoted to quick commerce, Lamma has seen month-on-month growth of above 50 per cent in its launch market of Tunis. It now has over 1,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) and works with over 150 merchants, and in October secured an undisclosed investment from Orange Ventures to fuel its international expansion.
“We are preparing expansion to new African countries, starting with Morocco,” El Idrissi said.
Lamma, which takes a commission on each sale it brings to a partner and operates a traditional buy-then-sell business model with its dark stores, will subsequently look at moving into Sub-Saharan African markets. El Idrissi said the team has to overcome challenges being a new entrant into a new market, but believes it is set to thrive.
“Of course partners in the beginning have difficulties trusting a new player, especially out of the food and beverage industry. But the quality of the team, our hard work and the traction are solving this issue progressively,” he said.
