UAE startup MangoGTM launches ‘Amazon for software vendors’

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• MangoGTM pairs buyers of tech solutions with sellers
• Service helps CIOs avoid being bombarded with unsolicited pitches 

MangoGTM, a UAE-based startup, is aiming to help small regional entrepreneurs get their foot in the door with some of the biggest companies in the world.

The business was set up four years ago as a consulting and servicing company but has since evolved into a wider technology marketplace, marrying buyers and vendors in what its owner, Omar Farooq Hussain, described as an “Amazon or eBay for enterprise software vendors”.

“Some 80 percent of our tech vendors are from minority backgrounds,” Hussain said.

“We’re making life easier for them to get visibility to the largest companies.

“The problem has always been the buyer and seller relationship,” he added, pointing out that company executives are bombarded with sales pitches, cold calls, emails and LinkedIn messages. 

“It’s got pretty bad,” he said. “There’s very little chance that you’re going to be able to get a meeting with the CIO [chief information officer] of a large enterprise.”

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A former employee of Gartner and Mubadala, Hussain said the company allows buyers looking for various solutions, from fintech and marketing to cybersecurity, to select a vendor through the portal, request a meeting or send a request for proposal (RFP). 

Alternatively, buyers can submit what they’re looking for and let Hussain and his team of former CIOs and Gartner analysts do the leg work to find a vendor on their behalf.

Based in Abu Dhabi and registered in the Sharjah Business Freezone, MangoGTM is completely financed by Hussain, who admitted he has no immediate plans to seek outside investment. 

Buyers and sellers come from across the world. Vendors include Qatar-based Before.ai, which produces approaches to threat intelligence, and Makersite.io, which uses real-time data analytics to digitise sustainable supply chains.

Further startups on the platform come from Germany, Boston and Silicon Valley. End users range from the UAE Ministry of Justice, Victoria Bank and PwC.

“It’s very much a global entity,” said Hussain.

MangoGTM makes its money though a subscription fee paid for by vendors to be listed on its marketplace. And Hussain has plans to double the size of the company by the end of 2023.

“For us, 2023 is x100. Everything has to be x100. A hundred times new buyers, 100 times new sellers, 100 times new activity,” he said.

Another element of MangoGTM is a deal which sees them donate meals via the UN’s World Food Programme, ShareTheMeal.

“For every completed sourcing event between a buyer and a seller, we contribute 10 meals to the programme, which further helps companies to meet their ESG goals,” said Hussain, who revealed almost 1,200 meals have been donated to date.

“We’re also looking to multiply the number of meals donated by 100 over the next 12 months,” he added.