# Watermelon Ecosystem

> Watermelon Ecosystem is a Dubai-based B2B platform for the food and beverage industry that connects restaurants, hotels, cafes and caterers with local and global suppliers. Founded in 2020 by former restaurateur Omar AlShamsi, it bundles a supplier marketplace, cloud POS, analytics and embedded financing into one system so F&B operators can consolidate ordering, cut purchasing time and paperwork, manage inventory and access working capital. The company raised a $4 million Series A in 2024 at a $29 million post-money valuation.

- **Founded:** 2020
- **Headquarters:** Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- **Founders:** Omar AlShamsi (Founder & CEO), Cristobal Albornoz (Co-founder (Procurement)), Archya Sengupta (Co-founder (Technology))
- **Team size:** ~58 employees
- **Products:** Watermelon Market, Watermelon POS, Watermelon Finance, Watermelon SaaS / Analytics, Local Sourcing & Marketing services
- **Notable:** Raised $4M Series A at a $29M post-money valuation (2024), Grew from 2 restaurants to 2,000+ F&B outlets onboarded, Reported ~70% reduction in purchase time across 7,000+ orders

## Products & services

- **Watermelon Market** — B2B marketplace connecting F&B outlets with local and global suppliers, with price comparison, negotiation, purchase orders and invoice management.
- **Watermelon POS** — Cloud-based point-of-sale system for managing orders and payments in restaurants and cafes.
- **Watermelon Finance** — Embedded financing including working capital loans and invoice financing for F&B SMEs, underwritten on platform transaction data.
- **Watermelon SaaS / Analytics** — Software tools for inventory management, reporting, forecasting and financial analysis across a restaurant's operations.
- **Local Sourcing & Marketing services** — Access to 1,000+ local products from regional suppliers plus digital marketing and branding support.

## Achievements

- Raised $4M Series A at a $29M post-money valuation (2024)
- Grew from 2 restaurants to 2,000+ F&B outlets onboarded
- Reported ~70% reduction in purchase time across 7,000+ orders
- Partnered with Biz2X to bring embedded lending to F&B SMEs in MENA
- Featured in The National's 'Generation Start-up' series

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — Announced partnership with Biz2X for embedded lending and invoice financing to F&B SMEs across MENA.
- **2024-07** — Closed $4M Series A at a $29M post-money valuation, advised by Daman Investments.
- **2024-08** — Refreshed brand and platform positioning as an all-in-one F&B ecosystem (marketplace, POS, finance, SaaS).

## Links

- Website: https://watermelon.market
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/watermelonecosystem
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@watermelon_market
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/watermelon_market/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watermelonecosystem/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/watermelon-ecosystem
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Last updated: 2026-07-24