North African Tech Startup Funding and Egyptian Startups' Notable Moves in August
The apparent low in Tech funding in the North African Region in August, where all the nine startups that announced funding came from Egypt, unlike the previous month where three out of the seven startups that received funding were Egyptian, two from Morocco, while Sudan and Tunisia had one each has again defied the much-mouthed immunity of the African Tech Ecosystem to the global slow in tech funding as a result of the current economic downturn.
Although there was a noticeable improvement both in the total disclosed funds received and the total number of startups that raised funding in August, nine startups from the North African region raised $67.6 in total funding as against seven startups raising $21.4 million in total disclosed funds in the North African Region in July, comprising – Stllr Network and Tunisia’s Paymee secured undisclosed funding. Aza Petrosolutions ($250,000), Cartona ($12 million), Sudan’s Bloom ($6.5 million), The Fashion Kingdom ($2.6 million), and Morroco’s Smartprof ($50,000).
August sees the North African powerhouse maintaining an all-around Egyptian affair in the region as well as continuing its historic dominance streak, having repeatedly led the region’s tech startup funding since January of this year.
A Breakdown of North African Tech Funding in August
The Edtech startup, ArabyAds, a $30 million pre-Series B funding round led by AfricInvest to expand into new regional and international markets was the highest for the region in the month under review. This was closely followed by Homzmart, Egypt’s furniture, and home supplies marketplace which secured a $23 million pre-Series B round to continue its market expansion and product development as well as improve its logistics operations. While OneOrder, an Egyptian restaurant tech startup that provides logistical services to restaurants via software and artificial intelligence, $6.5 million working capital facility from Contact Factoring, a subsidiary of Contact Financial Holding, a non-banking financial services company, to help it achieve its goal of assisting restaurants in overcoming supply chain and purchasing obstacles placed it at a distant third.
Also, Convertedin, an Egyptian startup that operates a marketing operating system for e-commerce brands, secured 3 million in a seed round led by Saudi-based Merak Capital, with participation from 500 Global and MSAS to help e-Commerce brands drive their personalized and scalable campaigns. Egypt’s SubsBase, a subscription, and recurring revenue management platform, closed a $2.4 million Seed round led by Global Ventures, a leading MEA-focused venture capital firm to accelerate product development and support the expansion strategy across MENA. Sharwa, an Egyptian Social commerce startup announced the closing of $2 million in Nuwa Capital and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund-co-led pre-seed funding round, with participation from several strategic angel investors.
Other Tech startups that received funding during the month
Zeew, Egypt’s B2B SaaS startup, has secured $630,000 in seed funding from Plug and Play Ventures, Poland Prize, and a group of angel investors to expand its team and serve more customers globally. This is the startup’s first funding after securing $170,000 in 2021. It’s total funding in the last two years now stands at $1 million, BONBELL, an Egyptian foremost mobile App in the Food-tech industry that specializes in food ordering and digital solutions for table and meal reservations, has announced a $350,000 seed funding round from a Canadian Angel investor. This will help further develop the App services and achieve a level of growth in terms of user count and daily orders.
Lastly, OBM Education, an Egyptian edtech startup, that provides career development navigation tools for high school and university students received a six-figure undisclosed investment from EdVentures in its second round of funding to expand and launch its new application.
Notable Moves by the Egyptian Tech Startup Ecosystem in August
Apart from the display of total dominance in the North African region’s tech funding in August, Egypt’s tech ecosystem equally witnessed a series of partnerships, expansions from startups in other countries and regions into the Egyptian market as well as a lone acquisition by ValU.
Egyptian Tech startups Partnerships
Talabat, MENA’s leading food ordering and delivery startup owned by Delivery Hero, partnered with Spinneys to ensure a seamless delivery of goods to its customers. Also, Sympl, Egypt’s deferred payment platform, partnered with the Cairo Festival City to offer its customers BNPL payment solutions. Other partnerships within the month under review include; Lucky partnering with Khazenly, Fawry signing a strategic partnership with EgyptAir, Mersal partnering with Chefaa, Geidea partnered with Moxey, Adib Egypt and Simplifi partnered.
Tech startups expanding into Egypt
Stake, a Dubai-based digital real estate fintech platform, recently raised $8 million in an oversubscribed pre-series A round. MEVP, and BY Ventures led the investment to expand into Egypt. Also, Cashew Payments, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform based in the United Arab Emirates, expanded its service to Egypt and the entire gulf region after securing a $10 million investment and a strategic partnership with Dubai-based Mashreq Bank.
Northern African tech startups successfully raised 493.5 million in H2 2022, more than 3.2 times the amount raised in the previous year, with Egypt alone raising $269.1 million of the region’s total funds. The region will surpass its last year’s record of $685 million if it continues on the positive side.