The 50 most funded startups in the Middle East and North Africa for 2021 have raised a record investment of nearly 3 billion USD

Newsletter

17 Jan 2022

For our top talks today, first, the 50 most funded startups in the Middle East and North Africa for 2021 have raised a record investment of nearly 3 billion USD. The share of the first 10 companies amounted to 1.9 billion USD. While the UAE hosts about half of the existing companies with 22 start-up companies, their financing amounted to 1.8 billion USD, or more than 60% of the total financing, followed by Saudi Arabia in second place with 12 companies that obtained financing amounting to 520.4 million USD, and then Egypt with 7 companies It secured 248.6 million USD in funding. (Forbes)

Second, according to Forbes as well, the financial technology sector is dominated by 13 companies, followed by the e-commerce sector with 11 companies.
While food technology companies top the list, in terms of total funding value of 874.9 million USD, thanks to (Kitopi), which tops the list this year, after raising 804 million USD. Buy Now, Pay Later (Tamara) services topped the list in terms of funding, after raising 116 million USD. The e-commerce company (MaxAB) was the most funded company in Egypt with 62.5 million USD. The year's list also includes 30 newcomers, such as North African on-demand transport and delivery startup Yassir, and fintech company PostPay. (Forbes)
And for Egypt hot industries, Egypt’s exports of medicines surged to 35%, breaking a new record for the first time, according to Tamer Essam, chairman of the Medicines Authority.
Essam added that local manufacturing in the field of medicines is witnessing a great boom, noting that “there is no medicine in the world or vaccine that is not manufactured in Egypt.” Here, it is worthy to mention the strength of the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt, noting that Egypt has not witnessed any crisis in the field of medicines for years, and the evaluation of Egypt internationally in the pharmaceutical industry has risen rapidly and remarkably for all. (Al-Mal)
The Suez Canal is considering granting discounts of up to 20% to green ships. The Suez Canal intends to adopt new work mechanisms and controls during this year,
which support the preservation of the environment by reducing carbon emissions by adopting some new measures, including: studying the provision of incentives for environmentally friendly ships, and examining ways to use renewable energy in operating monitoring stations and a number of marine units, in a way that can through it, the Suez Canal was declared the "Green Canal". Suez Canal revenues rose 12.8% to 6.3 billion USD in 2021, the highest level achieved by the Egyptian Canal in its history, with the support of attracting new ships to pass through it after reducing fees. (Bloomberg Asharq)
Egypt Investing 30 billion EGP to develop government oil companies in the budget for the next fiscal year 2022-2023, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum.
The Egyptian government has invested more than 7 billion EGP in establishing a complex for the production of high-octane gasoline in the southern governorate of Assiut, which was opened last December, with a production capacity of 800,000 tons annually, and represents 13% of the country's production of gasoline. The complex will cover the entire needs of Upper Egypt. (Bloomberg Asharq)
Moving to our investments talks, Sungrow, a Chinese inverter company, signed an agreement with Egyptian private sector solar energy provider KarmSolar to supply inverters and energy storage system for a microgrid battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
Under the deal, Sungrow will provide 2.576MWp PV inverter and 1MW/3.957 MWh energy storage system for the microgrid BESS project being developed by KarmSolar for Cairo 3A Poultry Company in Bahariya Oasis. In 2019, KarmSolar had signed a 90 million USD contract with Cairo3A Poultry to supply solar power for the poultry company's operations. (Arab Finance)
The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) plans to launch a renewable energy sub-fund in 2022, as part of its plan to support the green transition.
The Egyptian government is reportedly planning to transfer ownership of the assets of both the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) and the Hydro Power Plant Executive Authority (HPPEA) over to this new sub-fund, which will manage investments in climate-friendly projects. Accordingly, SFE officials are studying reports from the NREA and the HPPEA on their assets and ongoing projects. In 2022, the sovereign fund plans on scaling up climate-friendly investments. It is currently backing several high-profile infrastructural projects, including a 2.5 billion USD plan to develop 17 new desalination plants and Egypt’s first-ever green hydrogen facility. (Al Borsa News)
Turing to our EGX and companies talks, Aspire Capital Holding for Financial Investments (ASPI) announced that its subsidiary Al Khair Microfinance has completed the purchase of Business Enterprise Support Tools Foundation’s (BEST) loan portfolio and tangible and intangible assets.
The purchase transaction has been implemented at a value of 19 million EGP. This investment marks Aspire Capital’s first step in expanding in the non-banking financial services sector after the completion of its restructuring plan in October 2021. Al Khair Microfinance aims at providing a number of non-banking financial services in the Egyptian market as well as considering further investment opportunities in the sector. Aspire Capital Holding, formerly known as Pioneers Holding Company for Financial Investment, is an Egypt-based company that operates in the financial services sector. (EGX)
3attar, a health-focused tech/e-commerce platform secures seed investment from AUC Angels, UI Investment & individual Angel Investors, a statement by the company said.
The investment raised will be used to expand its user base and develop its tech stack. It will be utilized to expand the customer base through marketing acquisition and diversification, further developing the tech stack to achieve higher order volume and revenues. During the COVID-19 crisis, the company managed to expand its ‘selection from a few hundred products to more than 3,000; rendering it the biggest healthy-shopping destination in Egypt. “We aim to become the dominant one-stop-shop for the whole health community in Egypt and expand into Mena regions; including chronic diseases and obesity by providing a holistic healthy lifestyle app,” Mohamed Ali, founder & CEO of 3attar, commented. (Arab Finance)
Orcas, Egyptian live learning Edtech startup, has s raised 2.1 million USD in its latest funding round co-led by CIRA’s NFX Ventures, and Access Bridge Venture.
The round recorded participation from Algebra Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund, and Seedstars International. Orcas aims to unlock digital live learning capabilities for schools and teachers both offline and online in Egypt, KSA, and Pakistan (MENAP). Operations started in Pakistan’s Lahore in early 2022 and Orcas is planning to expand into the KSA next. (Arab Finance)
Egyptian Chemical Industries (KIMA) (EGCH) is currently in talks with a number of banks to obtain a loan worth 250 million USD.
The company will use the loan to finance the establishment of a new plant as an alternative to KIMA 1 in Aswan, Radwan highlighted, stressing that the plant will be eco-friendly. In the same vein, KIMA is expecting to achieve operation revenues of 2 billion EGP in 2022. The company also targets the completion of the adjusted agreement with some banks regarding the restricting of an old loan in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022. Under the agreement, a loan worth 292 million USD and another of 1.9 billion EGP shall be restructured, along with cutting interest rate. (Al-Mal)
And finally, eCards, a subsidiary of e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments (EFIH), is currently in talks with a medical insurance entity in Zimbabwe to issue and manage cards.
e-finance seeks to expand regionally across Africa in the field of e-cards issuance and management. This comes following the recently published news claiming that e-finance is close to signing a contract with one of the African countries. The company will reveal more details regarding the contract once it is closed. (Arab Finance)