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Yalla!Market launched in Dubai

Dubai - The company also plans to launch the production of ready-to-eat foods

15-min grocery delivery Yalla!Market launched in Dubai. The service delivers groceries and other goods of daily demand to the doorstep for free.

Users are only able to order through the mobile app or website, as it will be operating out of dark stores to make delivery faster and more efficient. The first dark store was launched in August 2021, two more are going to be opened by the end of October in the Business Bay and JVC area.

The client receives an order in 15 minutes from the nearest dark store due to a delivery radius of several kilometers and extremely high picking speed. Special way of storing goods and inaccessibility for customers allows pickers to collect the order in just 3 minutes after a purchase.

As stores are located in residential areas with high-density neighbourhoods like JLT, JVC and the Business Bay, couriers are able to deliver several orders per ride. The startup has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed round by Russian and UAE-based funds (S7 Ventures — the global fund by S7 Group — #1 private air and space holding company in Russia), Wamda Capital (Mena), and Dubai Angels Investors.

Yalla!Market product range includes 2100 SKU of everyday goods and is updated weekly using carefully monitored order trends to ensure there are always minimal items out of stock and to expand the product range and user choice. Today the average order is Dh55 and includes 9 positions.

Yalla!Market was founded by a team of Russian and Dubai entrepreneurs, including ex-CEO of Samokat — the largest dark store among US and European players by the number of stores (699 as of June 2021). Among the founders is also CEO of cloud-based POS for restaurants iiko Middle East, Leonid Dovbenko and CEO of Wakira Investments Nader Bassit as an adviser.

The team continues to develop the IT infrastructure and analytics system to study users' preferences and propose the best products. Yalla!Market's success in Dubai, due to a demand for faster delivery options, has encouraged expansion and will soon be live in Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

"Our team has been developing IT infrastructure for Dubai restaurants for several years so we know the market from the inside. The Mena region is actively developing: Expo is taking place in the Emirates this year, and Qatar is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022 - this is a huge growth potential. We see that the level of development of e-grocery in the UAE is far from Russia, where express delivery services have achieved incredible success. Launching a service of the same high level in this part of the world was an ambitious task for us. We are glad to see a response from local consumers," said Leo Dovbenko, Co-Founder of Yalla!Market.

Orders are delivered using a fleet of electric scooters and bicycles, so users can rest assured that their convenient lifestyle choice is an eco-friendly one.

The company also plans to launch the production of ready-to-eat foods: users will be able to order ready-made meals under its private label.

— business@khaleejtimes.com