Logistics is rarely glamorous. It lives in spreadsheets, phone calls, fragmented emails, and late-night follow-ups. For decades across MENA, freight movement has relied less on systems and more on improvisation. Trucks moved. Goods arrived. But visibility, predictability, and efficiency were luxuries.
Freterium was born inside that gap. Founded in 2018 by Mehdi Cherif Alami and Omar El Kouhene, Freterium is trying do something far more difficult and far more valuable: building the digital backbone the industry has quietly needed all along.
The Founder Insight: Logistics Fails Because of Systems
Before Freterium, logistics operators across the region faced the same structural problem:
too many stakeholders, too little coordination. Shippers, carriers, brokers, warehouse operators, and finance teams were operating on disconnected tools, if they had tools at all. This fragmentation created hidden costs: idle fleets, delayed payments, missed SLAs, and decision-making without real-time data.
Mehdi and Omar recognized a hard truth most overlook: logistics efficiency is a software problem disguised as a transport problem. Freterium was designed as a Transport Management Software (TMS) that brings everyone into a single, collaborative digital environment, where planning, execution, tracking, and reconciliation happen in real time.
What Freterium Built: Infrastructure
At its core, Freterium is a collaboration engine for freight.
The platform enables:
- Real-time coordination between shippers and carriers
- End-to-end traceability from order creation to delivery confirmation
- Centralized documentation and automated workflows
- Performance monitoring across routes, partners, and timelines
But what differentiates Freterium is workflow intelligence. The software mirrors how logistics actually works in MENA: complex, relationship-driven, and cross-border. Instead of forcing rigid processes, Freterium digitizes reality, then improves it. Today, the platform serves more than 20 enterprise clients and over 3,000 active users, embedding itself into daily operations rather than sitting as an unused dashboard.
Traction That Speaks the Language of Capital
Freterium’s progress has followed a pattern investors respect: clear problem – credible solution – institutional validation. In February 2022, the company closed a $4 million seed round, led by Partech, with participation from:
- Y Combinator
- Flexport
- CDG Invest (212 Founders)
- Swiss Founders Fund
- Outlierz Ventures
- and other global operators and funds
It is a signal that Freterium is building something regionally defensible and globally relevant, a platform capable of scaling across MENA’s fragmented logistics landscape while aligning with international standards.
Why Investors Are Paying Attention
Freterium sits at the intersection of three compelling investment narratives:
1. MENA Logistics Is Underserved by Modern Software. Despite massive trade volumes, the region lacks unified digital infrastructure for freight management. Freterium addresses this gap with a product built locally but designed for scale.
2. Software That Becomes Mission-Critical. Once integrated, a TMS like Freterium becomes deeply embedded in operations. Switching costs are high, retention is strong, and expansion happens organically as clients scale.
3. A Founding Team That Understands Execution. Mehdi Cherif Alami and Omar El Kouhene are building alongside operators, responding to real constraints, and iterating based on usage assumptions. This is how category leaders are formed.
Market Positioning: The Quiet Backbone of Regional Trade
Freterium does position itself as the operating layer beneath logistics activity, the system that makes complexity manageable. As trade flows increase across North Africa, the Gulf, and Europe, platforms like Freterium become essential infrastructure.
The Long View
The most valuable companies in logistics are rarely visible to consumers. They are visible to CFOs, operations heads, and supply chain directors. Freterium is building for that audience. It is building patiently, structurally, and with a clear understanding that software enables logistics to finally work at scale.
For investors looking beyond surface-level growth into systems that compound value over decades, Freterium represents the kind of company that quietly becomes indispensable.
