Business

Online portal for price shopping

The Middle East's first price comparison website has launched a UAE portal after receiving funding from a backer behind Souq.com and Cobone.com.

Gillian Duncan
Gillian Duncan

June 19, 2013

One of the first Middle East price comparison websites has launched a UAE portal after receiving funding from an investment company behind Souq.com and Cobone.com.

Bkam.com, which means "how much does it cost?" in Arabic, offers shoppers the chance to search all online stores in the markets it operates in for the best prices.

The Egyptian-based website has clocked up more than 50,000 mobile application downloads since its launch last October and receives 6,000 daily hits in its home market.

It launched in the UAE this week and plans to add Saudi Arabia later in the year.

The website uses a tool to extract data from online stores and compares the prices of every category except food and beverage.

"We are working on expanding it to [food and beverage] depending on the mobile app, so users using the mobile app can scan bar codes from on-the-shelf products at big names like Carrefour and still compare grocery products from supermarkets and hypermarkets," said Mahmoud Abdel Fattah, the founder of Bkam.com.

It has also added a tool to help "bricks" make money from clicks.

"We provide [stores which are not already online] with a very simple tool so they can upload a simple Excel file with their products and prices and once they upload this Excel file the products will be also available online to the online shoppers," added Mr Fattah.

Its entry into the Emirates this week was made possible by an investment round by the Jabbar Internet Group, founded by the entrepreneurs who set up Maktoob.com, which was sold to Yahoo in 2009.

The company backed Cobone.com, which it has now exited, and today counts Souq.com, Ikoo.com, Tahadi.com, Nibras.com and Araby.com among its portfolio.

"We approached Bkam.com because we saw in their vision the promise of something very successful in the region," said Samih Toukan, the ch

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah 
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology 
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million 
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin

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