Swvl is an Egyptian mobility startup founded in 2017 by Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh (who resigned in October last year). It provides an app that lets users in Egypt and Kenya book fixed‑rate, affordable rides on its network of vans and buses. The company completed a new investment round just before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in the region. Ventureburn and Menabytes report Swvl has raised over $20 million in this round. Menabytes cited Vostok New Ventures’ Q1 2020 report showing a $7 million investment in February as part of a larger round. Menabytes reported the round size to be between $24–$28 million, and the investment had not been officially announced by the company. Swvl is a Cairo-based transportation startup offering a mobile app to book fixed‑rate rides on a network of vans and buses. It operates in Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt and in Nairobi, Kenya. The company was founded in 2017 by Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh. Swvl recently completed a $42 million financing that, according to a Vostok New Ventures disclosure, valued the company at about $156.86 million. The startup has a strategic partnership with Ford to use Ford Transit minibuses as preferred vehicles on its routes. Management has said it plans to enter two or three more African cities by the end of the year, with Lagos likely the next market. Swvl operates an app that lets users book fixed-rate affordable rides on a network of vans and buses serving more than 200 routes in Cairo and Alexandria. The company was founded last year by Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh. Swvl plans to use the new funding to become more customer-centric and to build "top-class" operations, and it also plans to open an R&D facility in Berlin, Germany. The Series B round was led by Dubai-based VC BECO Capital and was described as "exceptionally oversubscribed" and in the "tens of millions." Participating investors include Africa-focused Digame and Jordan-based Silicon Badia, and existing backers such as Arzan Venture Capital, Dash Ventures, Esther Dyson, Emilian Popa, Oman Technology Fund, Raed Ventures and Sawari Ventures. Crunchbase estimates Swvl has raised a total of $8.5 million to date, including an $8 million Series A in April led by Silicon Badia, Digame and BECO Capital. Swvl operates an app-based, Chariot-like on-demand bus service marketed on its website as “Public Transport… For Millennials.” The company provides scheduled and on-demand bus rides targeting university students and working professionals in Cairo and Alexandria. Swvl has positioned itself as a public-transportation alternative in Egypt, addressing traffic and street-harassment concerns. With the new funding the company signaled plans to expand to other areas of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa in 2018. The article cites co-founder and CEO Mostafa Kandil noting this is one of the biggest early-stage deals announced for a tech startup in Egypt. Financially, Swvl has raised $8.5 million to date, including a prior $500,000 seed round from Careem in July 2017 and the newly announced Series A.

Total raised

$70M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

May 2020