The news
- Yassir has raised $150 million for its super app ambitions as it plans an expansion and hiring drive.
- BOND led the round with participation from DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital, Stanford Alumni Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Yassir, a super app providing telemedicine, travel, eCommerce, and ride-hailing services, has raised $150 million in a Series B funding round. VC firm, BOND, which has invested in Spotify, Uber, and Airbnb, led the round with DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital, Stanford Alumni Ventures, and Y Combinator joining the round.
Founded in 2017 by Noureddine Tayebi, a Stanford alumnus, Yassir began with ride-hailing and last-mile delivery as it aimed to build trust among users as part of its long-term goal of providing seamless financial services to users.
Speaking to TechCrunch in an interview, Tayebi explained the decision to adopt this approach.
“When we first started, the observation was that most people were unbanked, and the number one reason is that people don’t trust the banking systems here for various reasons. We thought we could provide on-demand services that solve immediate needs around where people spend their money. We knew if we executed well, we could have a larger user base that subconsciously trusts us, which we felt was pertinent to offering payment services.”
In addition to building trust, its ride-hailing and delivery services now serve as outlets to drive its provision of financial services. In a previous interview, Tayebi explained that the startup uses its drivers and delivery personnel to encourage users to deposit money into their Yassir wallets. It also issues discounts to make it more attractive for users. This approach seems to be working, as the startup reportedly has 8 million users, a 2.5x increase from 2021.
With extra fuel in its tank, Tayebi says the startup is only getting started. “Although we like to consider ourselves as leaders in the Maghreb region, we’re just scratching the surface, and there’s still a lot of room to grow.”
With offices in France, Morocco, Tunisia, Canada, and Algeria, the startup is planning an expansion drive across Africa and the Middle East that will see it triple the size of its engineering and product teams.
