Algeria’s GroDesto Raises $1.4M To Build Its Logistics Platform

Algerian logistics platform GroDesto has announced it has successfully raised 200 million DA ($1.4M) through a public offering in order to become a joint stock company (SPA).

Mustapha Siaci, the founder of the startup, announced the outcome of the fundraising initiative on Thursday in Algiers, at the conclusion of the Constituent General Assembly of the new company “SPA GroDesto Innovation,” which was created to develop a logistics platform for the distribution of consumer goods.

GroDesto is an initiative to enable the distribution of consumer goods in Algeria. The startup consists of a mobile application and a website for logistics distribution. The project was awarded the “Innovative Project” label by the Algerian Ministry of the Knowledge Economy, Startups, and Micro-Enterprises on August 12, 2021.

Siaci stated, at a ceremony held at the conclusion of this constitutive general meeting, that GroDesto is the first Algerian company founded through a public call for investment in order to fund its logistics distribution platform in compliance with the Algerian commercial code’s regulations.

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The information notice that was submitted for the incorporation of the new company through a public offering was approved by the Commission for the Organization and Supervision of Stock Market Operations (COSOB).

Grodesto logistics
Credits: Grodesto

According to the announcement, 200,000 shares with a nominal value of one thousand dinars each were made available to the public between May 5 and August 28.

Siaci predicts that by the year 2023, GroDesto will be responsible for the creation of more than 50 direct jobs and more than 1,200 indirect jobs.

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He thanked all the shareholders and parties who contributed to the success of this first fundraising effort by an Algerian startup and noted that the participants at the general meeting unanimously approved the company’s bylaws, the composition of its board of directors, and the appointment of its auditor.

He stated that the only things left to do are to obtain the company’s commercial registration within the next few days so that it may begin operations and to make sure that quarterly shareholder reports are produced

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For his part, Kamel Taleb, the head of development at Cosob, emphasized that the fundraising operation requested by Grodesto “met all standards in terms of financial information openness and management and governance.”

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexpert