Egypt's Scientific Research Startup Nawah Scientific Raises $1 Million to Expand into New Markets

While the pandemic has sent many a startup into a mad dash for survival, one venture has seemingly thrived: Egypt’s Nawah Scientific. The e-science startup has announced that it has raised an investment of $1 million, its second Pre-Series A round following a December 2018 round, also worth $1 million.

Once again, the investment has been led by government-backed fund, Egypt Ventures, though this time it includes participation from The Cairo Angels, Alexandria Angels, HULT Alumni Angels and the recently-launched Alexandria Fund. According to founder, Dr. Omar Sakr, the investment will be channeled into expanding Nawah Scientific’s reach, as Sakr and co. push their unique online platform into more markets.

Founded in 2015, Nawah Scientific is best described as an all-inclusive online destination that outsources scientific services in its primary offering of undertaking research and analytical experiments. The platform receives requests and sends couriers to collect samples for analysis, before the results are then published online. In the last five years, the startup has analysed over 50,000 samples from more than 3,000 clients across nine countries. It has found popularity for allowing sections of the scientific community that might not have access to adequate labs or facilities with the ability to undertake high-quality research at affordable prices. Despite a difficult 2020, Nawah Scientific has been in the ascendancy. Just before the onset of COVID-19, at the backend of 2019, the startup won second place at the inaugural edition of the Africa Netpreneur Prize , which was launched by Ali Baba founder, Jack Ma. A $150,000 prize has since helped the startup establish a new hub of labs, which Sakr claims to be the biggest private multidisciplinary research hub in Egypt, putting them in prime position to expand its fields of research and enter into new markets.

While Sakr and co. have naturally been focused on the area of pharmaceuticals, the investment will allow Nawah Scientific to move forward with ambitious plans to move into other industries that rely heavily on quality control tests, including food, agriculture and petrochemicals.

“Everyday, I realise that Nawah’s potential is way beyond our initial imagination and that we are barely scratching the surface,” Sakr said in the wake of the investment. “Our work has significantly empowered the scientific society in Egypt and we are expanding next year to surrounding countries with an aggressive plan to cover MENA and Africa in the foreseeable future.”

Learn more about Nawah Scientific here.