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Sunday, 1 August 2021

Egyptian startups raise 26% of MENA funding in 1H2021

Egyptian startups landed some USD 194 mn in venture capital finance in the first half of this year and accounted for 26% of all transactions inked across MENA in the same time period, ITIDA CEO Amr Mahfouz said last week in a statement (pdf). Mahfouz said in public comments that the USD 194 mn figure was a 30% year-on-year increase from 2020.

The biggest funding rounds in 1H2021: Trella closed a USD 42 mn funding round co-led by Maersk Growth in June, followed by payment gateway Paymob, which completed a USD 18.5 mn series A round in April. Digital banking app Telda landed USD 5 mn in pre-seed funding in May. Egyptian fintech startup Dayra closed a USD 3 mn pre-seed funding round in March, logistics startup Flextock raised USD 3.25 mn in pre-seed investment in May and agri-fintech startup Mozare3 raised a seven-figure investment in a pre-series A round.

Egypt lured in more international investors than any other MENA country in 2020: International VCs represented 32% of all investors supporting Egyptian startups in 2020, compared to 21% in the UAE and 18% in KSA, according to a report (pdf) by Magnitt. There were 69 VCs actively investing in Egypt as of 2020, up from 31 in 2017.

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