The archive · Consumer Apps · Strategic decision · 2017–2022
Yassir's super-app bet: $150M from BOND makes it North Africa's most valuable startup
Yassir bet unbanked Maghreb users would trust one app for rides, food and payments; BOND's $150M round made it North Africa's most valuable startup.
Yassir
What the business is
Super app for the Maghreb offering ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, and financial services — the region's most valuable startup.
Starting capital：$193.25M raised by 2022: $13.25M seed, $30M Series A, and $150M Series B led by BOND.
How it started
Noureddine Tayebi founded Yassir in 2017 with Mahdi Yettou in Algiers. The thesis: people were unbanked mainly because they distrusted banks, so a super app that first solved everyday needs — getting to work, ordering food — could earn the trust needed to then offer payments. By 2022 it reached 45 cities in six countries with 8 million users and 100,000 partners.
What happened
By 2022 Yassir said three of every five on-demand activities in Algeria ran through the platform, and its user base had more than doubled year over year. In November 2022 it raised a $150M Series B led by Mary Meeker's BOND, with Y Combinator, DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital and Stanford Alumni Ventures participating.
How it ended up
The round — five times its previous priced round — brought total funding to $193.25M and made Yassir the most valuable startup in North Africa. The company said it would expand across Africa and the Middle East, building on offices in Algeria, Canada, France, Morocco and Tunisia and pushing its financial-services vertical.
Background
Yassir was founded in Algiers in 2017 by Noureddine Tayebi, a Stanford PhD who returned home after 15 years in Silicon Valley, and Mahdi Yettou. The bet: the Maghreb's under-served consumers would adopt a single super app, starting with ride-hailing and delivery and graduating to payments once they trusted the platform.
The trust-first thesis rested on a striking data point: a 2018 McKinsey report found 57% of Africans have no bank account and 40% of the banked prefer digital channels. Tayebi's argument was that distrust of banks, not poverty alone, kept people unbanked — so an app that solved daily needs could become the gateway to finance.
Execution followed the thesis. By late 2022 Yassir operated in 45 cities across six countries, served more than 8 million users and 100,000 partners, and claimed three of every five on-demand activities in its first market, Algeria, ran through the platform.
In November 2022 Yassir raised a $150M Series B led by Mary Meeker's BOND, with Y Combinator, DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital and Stanford Alumni Ventures participating. Total funding reached $193.25M, making it the most valuable startup in North Africa and one of the highest-valued companies in Africa and the Middle East.
What has to be true
- Tayebi built from a data point global VCs underweighted: with 57% of Africans unbanked and 40% of the banked preferring digital, a super app could jump straight to mobile-first finance.
- The wedge was trust, not technology: rides and food created daily, high-frequency touchpoints that made users comfortable transacting in the app — the precondition for payments.
- Sequencing mattered: services came first, payments later, so the $150M BOND round priced a company with 8 million users and 100,000 partners, not a promise.
- Frugality forced by an overlooked region became a strength: Algerian startups struggled to raise, so Yassir managed unit economics and burn early — exceptional when markets turned.
What can be applied
Where banking is distrusted, finance rides on daily-use products: Yassir earned trust through rides and food delivery before banking, and global capital followed the sequencing.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Yassir remains live as the most valuable startup in North Africa, operating in six countries and 45 cities with more than 8 million users and 100,000+ partners. Its financial-services vertical — wallets, merchant payments and money agents built on drivers and couriers — continues the strategic sequel to the ride-and-delivery business that funded user trust, and the company has kept its base in Algiers while expanding across the Maghreb and French-speaking Africa.
Sources
- Yassir pulls in $150M for its super app, led by Bond
- Algeria's super app Yassir raises $150 million Series B funding
- Yassir raises $150 million in Series B funding from global investors for on-demand services marketplace
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