Egyptian Startup Swvl Breaks Funding Record As They Snag A Massive $8 Million Investment

“The $8 million round is the biggest round of funding for a tech start up in Egypt and one of the biggest rounds in the Middle East,” says Swvl's Co-founder and CEO Mostafa Kandil, in celebration of the fund his startup raised in a Series A Funding. 

According to Forbes Middle East, the fund was led by BECO Capital, a regional venture fund, DiGAME, an Africa-based investor, and global VC fund Silicon Badia, followed by the VC firms Raed Ventures, Arzan VC, Oman Technology Fund, and chairman of EDventure Holdings Esther Dyson. With the money pumped into the startup, Swvl's CEO looks to solidify his company's position in Egypt and move forward to lead globally in the affordable smart mobility space, offering fixed routes for a fixed flat fare at prices that are up to 80 percent cheaper than on-demand ride-hailing services.

In fact, in the next three years, Swvl looks to invest $16.9 million - equivalent to EGP 300 million - in the local market, empowering as many micro-entrepreneurs as possible in Egypt and the region, becoming one of the biggest job creators in the country. 

Kandil and co-founders Mahmoud Nouh and Ahmed Sabbah were listed as Startup Scene ME's 25 Under 25 last year, and Swvl marked one of 2017's major headlines when it closed a $500,000 deal with UAE-born ride-hailing app, Careem, marking the regional giant’s fist investment in another startup. Launched in March 2017, the startup ballooned into a team of 36 in less than a year, completing 100,000 rides per month across Cairo and Alexandria. “Everyone is competing for mobile real estate; to have a space in your mobile is the most expensive piece of real estate you can have, so you need to offer something of value in return. We are offering something of clear value for them to download the app,” Kandil says. 

Main photo: @MO4Network's #MO4Productions.

Photographer: Ahmed Najeeb.