Investment round up in 2020 so far
This week several startups got funded including some from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. 2019 was an eventful year with a record number of deals, exits and investors, according to MAGNiTT’s 2019 MENA Venture Investment Report. This is expected to continue in 2020, with their predictions that exits would reach new heights and more than one billion dollars will be invested in the year.
According to this report, January 2020 saw a decrease of 54% in the number of deals compared to January 2019. January 2020 also witnessed a 56% drop in total funding, with $37M raised compared to the same period last year.
Here are some of our picks of the more interesting startup investments so far this year:
elmenus raises $8M for scaling across Egypt
elmenus, Egypt’s food discovery and ordering platform, raised $8M from Global Ventures and Algebra Ventures. The round was led by Global Ventures, a UAE-based venture capital fund focused on enterprise technology solutions across the Middle East and Africa region, and Algebra Ventures, a technology venture capital firm in Egypt, with participation from Tarek Sakr and Hamad Al Homaizi, who are both prominent entrepreneurs.
elmenus has built strong brand equity in Egypt in the food discovery segment in both dine-out and delivery channels. In 2019, elmenus launched the ability for users to order food online through its platform, and subsequently, its own fleet service, in order to effectively serve over one million users across Cairo. The new round of funding will allow the company to continue to scale across Egypt.
Kitopi raised $60M to expand its cloud kitchen services.
Kitopi, a managed cloud kitchen platform that partners with restaurants to expand their delivery reach, has raised $60 million, in its Series B round of funding. The round was led by Knollwood and Lumia Capital with further participation from global investors, including BECO, CE-Ventures, GIC, Rise Capital, Reshape, Global Ventures and Wilshire Lane Partners.. Kitopi currently operates 30 kitchens across the US, UAE, KSA, UK and Kuwait, and will look to continue its expansion into both new and existing markets. Building on its current success, it plans to expand with 50 more locations in the US and 100 globally in 2020.
P2P SME lending Platform, Raqamyah, raises Seed funding
Raqamyah Platform, a Saudi based Peer-to-Peer (P2P) SME lending platform has secured seed funding from Impact46. Raqamyah is one of the first Saudi companies approved by SAMA to offer P2P lending including invoice, inventory, and term finance. With its first lending opportunity fully funded through the platform, Raqamyah is gearing up to publish its subsequent opportunities in the coming days. The startup is led by Ammar Bakheet and a team of experienced bankers with more than 25-year experience in the financial sector. As a FinTech company, Raqamyah uses innovative technology to connect small businesses seeking fast, affordable finance with lenders who could help fund their growth.
