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Mobily Ventures announced an investment in Dokkan Afkar, an E-Commerce startup based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Founded in June 2012 and commercially launched in June 2013, Dokkan Afkar offers a wide variety of products with a strong appeal for Saudi youth and  a focus on promoting local suppliers. We previously listed them among our '10 Favorite Startups of 2013', and they had a booth during ArabNet Riyadh 2013.

Dr. Karl-Michael Henneking, Chairman of the Board of Mobily Ventures commented "We expect the Saudi E-Commerce market to develop at a fast pace. With our investment in Dokkan Afkar we demonstrate Mobily’s strong commitment to finance and support young, talented Saudi entrepreneurs and contribute to the development of the local startup ecosystem."

E-Commerce is growing exponentially in Saudi Arabia; the market is expected to expand to 9.9 billion Saudi riyals in 2015 ($2.7 billion USD) according to PayPal Insights E-Commerce report in the Middle East.

“We are planning to expand the business, grow our operations, and reach different markets in the GCC, but before that we want to fully penetrate the Saudi market in the coming 6 months. We are already set up in the UAE, but we’re not active there yet.” Ammar Waganah, Co-Founder & CEO of Dokkan Afkar. “Investment talks with Mobily Ventures started through an introduction by one of our angel investors, whom we met during ArabNet Riyadh 2014.”

ALSO SEE: How DokkanAfkar.com Spices Up the Booming E-commerce Sector in Saudi Arabia

Dokkan Afkar is the fourth investment by Mobily Ventures. They previously invested in Anghami, an Arab music-streaming service, in Easy Taxi Middle East a mobile taxi application, and in Hellofood Middle East an online food delivery service.