P2P Marketplace Melltoo Wants To Encourage Customers To Support A Cause Melltoo co-founder Sharene Lee highlights the startup's growth, its new initiative focusing on social impact, and her advice on entrepreneurship.
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Founded by wife-and-husband co-founders Sharene Lee and Morrad Irsane, Melltoo is a peer-to-peer marketplace for people to buy and sell secondhand items from its website and iOs and Android apps. Melltoo also enables the payment and delivery transactions, along with a built-in chat feature, making it easier for users to buy or sell things without exchanging private details, and from the comfort of your home. Available in UAE, KSA, Egypt and Kuwait, the startup had raised a number of rounds, amounting investments of a total of US$1.3 million from regional investors including Raed Ventures, MEVP, Normadic Capital, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, WOMENA and TURN8, with latest investor 500 Startups.
In this #EntMETalks episode during GITEX Future Stars 2017 -wherein the startup won the Best Female Led Startup award and a prize money of $15,000- Lee discusses key points in Melltoo's growth and what prompted the launch of "Impacter," an initiative to encourage users to contribute towards a cause. "We'll help you sell your stuff, [and] turn it into cash for a cause that you select," says Lee, adding that they've partnered with organizations such as Emirates Red Crescent, Salma Aid, Emirates Wildlife Society and World Wildlife Fund. According to a statement release, it's now available in public beta through its apps. The startup also aims to publish a quarterly report for a look on details towards amounts donated.
With a number of players in the market, Lee emphasizes on Melltoo's community and customers as their key focus to scale their venture. As a serial entrepreneur who's had prior successful exits in Los Angeles and France, Lee shares her advice on building startups: "You really need to be persistent. You have to knock on all doors. You have to grow thick skin. You just have to be out there, and you just have to push your product."
Learn and join the #Declutter4aCause initiative on its website www.uae.melltoo.com/donate/.
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