UAE’s Cartlow Launches Sister Startup VASCART After Raising $2 Million Pre-Series A Funding

UAE-based re-commerce startup, Cartlow, has announced the official launch of a new sister startup, VASCART, after raising $2 million in Pre-Series A funding from Arzan Ventures, Vision Ventures and other undisclosed VCs.

Launched by Mohammad Sleiman in August 2019, Cartlow is considered a leader in the emerging re-commerce (or reverse commerce) sector. The platform, available as a website and an app, offers users the chance to sell and buy refurbished, open-box, certified goods from official partners, which might otherwise be disposed of. These goods include everything from electronics and home appliances, to fashion and beauty products. With the launch of VASCART, Sleiman is utilising a B2B model to offer retailers, brands and distributors value-added service and an after-service market, offering such buyback solutions, liquidation services, warranty repairs, extended warranty programme, refurbishing and quality control.

Traditionally, when a product is purchased, the product life cycle ends. With VASCART, Sleiman is looking to change that by applying what is being touted as a ‘reverse logistics’ mechanism, though the founder admits that the model is still a work in progress.

“We are still in the early stages of learning how to bring new value to our customers by introducing re-commerce to the region,” he said. “Our goal remains in continuing to solidify and extend our brand and customer base, since we first successfully launched Cartlow and now we have decided to create more opportunities by launching VASCART for retailers and distributors to benefit from, thereby enhancing their conversion rate and long-time value.”

The re-commerce sector is still very much in its infancy, though the potential GCC market size is estimated at a whopping $10 billion. In its first year, Cartlow sold over 1 million items, an achievement that has been hailed for helping reduce e-waste.