MOROCCO – LNKO, an ecommerce business focusing on stylish eyewear, has received a 3 million Dirham (US$335,000) investment from CDG Invest, the investment branch of the CDG group.
This seed capital will help LNKO to advance from the seed phase to the acceleration phase, allowing the startup to accelerate its growth in the MENA region, beginning with the United Arab Emirates, a market that is ten times larger than the Moroccan market.
This phase will also contribute to the creation of clean technology tools, as well as an ambitious recruitment plan, as well as enhancing national and international e-commerce experience.
LNKO has benefited from close support as part of the 212Founders initiative, which was established in 2019 by CDG Invest with the goal of helping in the establishment and growth of startups in Morocco.
“We are happy to be a part of LNKO’s expansion. In a short amount of time, the startup was able to produce excellent results,” Youssef Mamou, Director of the 212Founders program, said.
“It has become the first Moroccan site for the sale of online glasses in less than a year, with more than 10,000 clients, and we plan to support it in realizing its regional objectives with this funding.”
In addition to this investment, CDG Invest has previously made eight investments for the benefit of startups in the first promotion of the 212Founders program as part of its aim to support entrepreneurship and the upscaling of the Moroccan economy.
Founded by Maha Bennani in 2020, LNKO is a D2C (direct-to-consumer) eyewear company that specializes in fashionable eyewear. The brand offers excellent glasses and glasses at 550 dhs ($62) by eliminating intermediaries from the sales channel.
The winner of the 212Founders program’s second promotion can now enter the program’s acceleration phase thanks to this financing.
Operating in e-commerce, the startup has become in less than a year the leading online sales site for trendy eyewear, disrupting the segment. From now on, the young company intends to attack the Emirati market, develop technologically and design its own models.
LNKO sells online several types of glasses for women, men, children, solar, anti-blue light, etc … For all types of glasses, purchases can be made online or at the physical stand. For prescription glasses which remain medical devices, online ordering takes on a special aspect.
The startup has partnerships with various international suppliers to source the model. “Product purchases are made based on the models we would like to wear. We want to provide trendy pairs that cannot be found elsewhere. We get our supplies in Europe and Asia from partners specializing in eyewear design,” explains the young business manager.
But with its fundraising the young company now intends to design its own models and conquer new markets.