Sawari Ventures Closes New $69 Million for Investment in Egypt

Cairo’s Sawari Ventures has announced in a press release that it has successfully closed its Egypt-centric investment fund with new commitments of $28 million from regional fiscal giants like Misr Insurance Group, Kuwait Investment Authority’s Ekuity, National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, and Suez Canal Bank. The firm has also managed to secure $41 million from the European Investment Bank, as well as development finance institutions like the United Kingdom’s CDC, France’s Proparco and Dutch Good Growth Fund.

This fund is directed exclusively towards investing in Egyptian startups - a matter of obvious significance for the founders of Sawiri Ventures. Ahmed Al-Alfi, Hany Al-Sonbay and Wael Amin started Sawiri Ventures in 2010 and their current portfolio boasts over 30 companies like Swvl, MoneyFellows, Instabug, Si-Ware and Elves.

Investment will go towards startups in both seed-stage and growth-stage; funds oriented towards seed-stage companies will be made through Flat6Labs in Egypt and Tunisia, where 10% of the fund is earmarked for seed-stage companies through investment in Flat6lab vehicles. The rest of the fund (90%) is earmarked for growth-stage companies with a media investment range of $2 to $3 million.

“Our aim is to create exceptional returns through investing in knowledge-driven companies, which have the potential of bringing transformational changes to the Egyptian economy,” said Al Alfi, who also serves the Sawari Ventures Chairman. “The fund will support local companies with dedicated capital, in addition to quality expertise from our seasoned and specialised team, and the value add of our investors.”