Revibe, a Dubai-based marketplace for refurbished electronics with significant operations in Egypt, has raised $17m in a Series A funding round led by Partech.
The investment was drawn from Partech’s Africa II fund, continuing a period of aggressive deployment for the Paris-headquartered VC. The round also saw participation from e& capital, Burda Principal Investments, and EQNX, alongside existing investors.
The deal highlights a growing trend of “cross-border” African tech plays: startups that combine the high-purchasing power of Gulf markets (like the UAE and Saudi Arabia) with the operational talent and scale of North African hubs like Egypt.
The Deal at a Glance
- Round Size: $17m
- Lead Investor: Partech (via Partech Africa II)
- Participants: e& capital, Burda Principal Investments, EQNX.
- Company Focus: B2C marketplace for refurbished electronics (smartphones, laptops).
- Key Markets: UAE, Saudi Arabia (GCC), with operations in Egypt.
Chasing the “Back Market” of the Middle East
Founded in 2022 by Moroccans Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour, Revibe is attempting to standardize the fragmented secondhand electronics market in the MENA region — a model popularized globally by French unicorn Back Market.
Trust is the primary barrier in the secondhand electronics market. To combat this, Revibe creates a “gatekeeper” model rather than a peer-to-peer open bazaar. The company claims that every device sold undergoes a 50-point inspection process and comes with a one-year warranty.
“Revibe is building the leading refurbished electronics platform for emerging markets,” says Cyril Collon, General Partner at Partech. “With Egypt as its operational engine and Dubai as its strategic hub, the team’s data-driven execution and clear vision set them apart.”
The dual-hub structure is critical to the company’s economics. While the commercial headquarters targets the wealthier GCC consumers, the operational heavy lifting — engineering and quality control — is increasingly centered in Egypt, allowing for lower burn rates compared to pure-play Gulf competitors.
The fresh $17m will be used to tighten these quality controls further and aggressively expand into new markets within the GCC and potentially broader emerging markets.
Revibe has also seen strong growth in the past year, widening its presence across the GCC region and into South Africa. As inflation squeezes disposable income, “re-commerce” is shifting from a niche sustainability play to a mainstream affordability necessity. Revibe’s pitch is to make renewed electronics the “default choice” for buyers — promising devices that are affordable, reliable, and sustainable. Secondhand fashion marketplace Yaga recently raised €4m in a pre-Series A round. Notably, Yaga has reportedly hit profitability — a rare metric in the current African e-commerce landscape.
Partech’s Aggressive Deployment
The Revibe deal underscores the sheer velocity of Partech Africa II, the €280m fund which closed at its hard cap in late 2024.
While many VCs in the African tech ecosystem have retreated into “maintenance mode” amid currency volatility and valuation corrections, Partech has taken a contrarian, high-volume approach. The firm has positioned itself as a lead investor capable of writing ticket sizes between $1m and $15m, effectively de-risking rounds for other investors.
In May 2025 alone, the firm participated in four other significant deals:
- Nawy (Egypt): A massive $75m round ($52m equity) for the proptech startup, which Partech led. This stands as one of Egypt’s largest recent raises.
- MoneyFellows (Egypt): A $13m pre-Series C round for the ROSCA digitisation platform, co-invested with Morocco’s Al Mada Ventures.
- AURA (South Africa): A $15m Series B for an emergency response marketplace.
- Carrot Credit (Nigeria): A $4.2m seed round for a digital asset-backed lending platform.
This flurry of activity suggests Partech is heavily overweight on Egypt, investing nearly $65m in equity into the country in a single month. Despite Egypt’s macroeconomic struggles — including currency devaluation — investors like Partech appear to be betting that the country’s fundamentals (market size and tech talent) remain sound for the long term.
What’s Next
With €280m in dry powder and a new office in Lagos, Partech is signaling expansion rather than contraction. The firm aims to back 20 to 25 startups with this fund, opting for more concentrated positions than its predecessor fund.
For Revibe, the challenge will be maintaining quality control at scale. As they expand beyond the UAE, logistics and warranty servicing will become exponentially more complex — a hurdle that has tripped up many e-commerce players in the region before them.