Dubai’s Automotive Sales Platform Seez Raises $5 Million Pre-Series B

UAE-based automotive sales startup Seez has raised a grand total of $5 million in a twice oversubscribed Pre-Series B round from Nuwa Capital, Crealize, BY Venture Partners (BYVP), Alfa Partner Holding, and multiple other key angel investors.

Founded in 2016, Seez was originally an AI-based image recognition app for cars, later developing into a car listings app that also offers AI and data tools for buyers across five markets. Through Seez, users can buy cars from official dealers or individual resellers, digitising the otherwise largely offline car dealership market.

The startup works with auto dealers and manufacturers on digital solutions and data insights, acting as a kind of ‘Shopify’ for the automotive industry. The Dubai company has real international potential, already having gone live with Hessel, the second-largest auto dealership in Denmark and the country’s largest official Mercedes-Benz dealer. “Seez is growing faster than expected so more capital will help us deal with our rapid growth as we continue our European expansion, before raising a larger Series B. Raising a smaller round now helps us avoid early dilution, given the expected uplift in valuation after our European launch,” said co-founder and CEO Tarek Kibrit.

Back in 2020, Seez raised a 5x oversubscribed Series A round of $6 million and had raised $3.2 million prior to that, bringing its total funding thus far to $14.2 million. The startup plans to use its new funding to expand its digital capabilities and enter new markets, as Seez is one of the  few Middle Eastern startups that have successfully broken into the European market.