EQIQ launches Boxy with $1.5M Pre-Seed investment to transform Iraq’s logistics sector

EQIQ has finally pulled back the curtain on Boxy, an AI-powered logistics aggregator aiming to shake up Iraq’s delivery sector. After spending a full year in stealth mode—enough time to get everything just so—the startup now emerges, supported by a hefty $1.5 million pre-seed investment. You can tell the team behind EQIQ know what they’re doing: they’ve already logged over half a billion dollars in technology bets elsewhere, with a return rate most founders can only dream about.

Boxy was co-founded earlier this year by CEO Ahmed Baqer and CTO Mehrshad Pezeshk, attracting an early surge of interest (and new merchants) since its launch last October. Their big idea is to link up the whopping 1,500 last-mile courier companies operating across Iraq onto a single, easy-to-use shipping platform. To me, that sounds a bit like herding cats, but it’s clearly sorely needed in a region where e-commerce is on the up—yet basic logistics can be a bit of a faff.

EQIQ’s approach is all about finding seasoned hands to run things, and here they’ve landed a pretty impressive duo. Ahmed Baqer has clocked up a decade growing challenging startups like Careem in Iraq, while his co-founder Mehrshad Pezeshk’s background spans logistics ventures from the Middle East to North America. This isn’t your typical “let’s have a go” team—these folks have seen the sharp end.

The service itself doesn’t just aim to be a middleman, either. Using machine learning, Boxy matches every single shipment to whichever courier has the best fit, factoring in real-time data on delivery performance and merchant preferences. Merchants—so often left to juggle dozens of clunky dashboards and endless phone calls—can finally ditch the headache and sort everything in one place. Honestly, I reckon this sort of simplicity is long overdue; the MENA startup scene talks about “digital transformation” so much but, well… not enough people roll up their sleeves and actually get on with it.

And the numbers are already encouraging: Boxy doubled its merchant base just last month. With the fresh injection of cash, plans are afoot to plug directly into the major courier networks in Baghdad and Iraq’s other big cities. That means less time onboarding for new merchants—down from weeks to mere hours, by their estimates—and fewer of those infuriating delivery mix-ups at the last mile.

There’s often a perception that Iraq’s fragmented logistics market is “impossible” to fix, but Boxy’s CTO, Mehrshad Pezeshk, pushes back on that myth. With the right blend of smart infrastructure and clever tech, he believes the puzzle is solvable—and I’m inclined to agree, even if the road ahead looks gnarly.

What stands out is EQIQ’s strategy: they don’t just write the cheques, but act as co-founders, rolling their sleeves up from day one. It’s a hands-on model that brings real skin in the game, something I’ve always admired when talking to founders across the region. And for those keeping count, this comes hot on the heels of EQIQ’s portfolio growing to five high-growth startups since 2023.

Now, while I’m not one for hype, I truly think innovations like this are what will tip the scales for Iraqi SMEs who want to reach larger markets but can’t afford the usual logistical nightmares. And, just between us, seeing startups like Boxy thrive gives me a buzz—this is exactly the kind of thing we at Arageek love to cover, as it sets the stage for a much stronger entrepreneurial ecosytem across the region. (You’ll forgive the spelling slip; old habits die hard, eh?)

All in all, Boxy’s debut could be a game-changer—if the team can keep up the pace, Iraq might finally see the logistics breakthrough everyone’s been talking about. Only time will tell whether they can deliver, but if you ask me, they’re off to a spot on start.

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