Middle Eastern Amazon rival Noon to raise up to $2bn more from PIF and others

RIYADH: Noon.com, a Middle Eastern rival to Amazon plans to raise up to $2 billion over the next three to four years from Saudi sovereign fund PIF and other investors, to capture a larger slice of the Gulf e-commerce market.

The money will be used to upgrade infrastructure and help speed up deliveries, Noon founder Mohamed Alabbaron Sunday told Bloomberg on Sunday.

E-commerce currently accounts for 2 to 2.5 percent of total retail in the region, compared with 20 to 22 percent in the western world and China, he said.

Noon operates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and is looking to expand in other nations across the Middle East. 

Alabbar, who owns 50 percent of Noon jointly with other regional private investors, raised $1 billion from backers including the PIF to create the firm in 2016. It now has about 4 million daily users and growth is accelerating as it pushes into grocery delivery.

“Traffic is growing on a monthly basis,” Alabbar said. “We’re easily doubling every year and the volume of package delivery is up almost 2.5 times.”