Egypt
Cairo
On the road to building ‘Digital Egypt’, we invest in local talent to spearhead our startup ecosystem to drive impact innovation, create value and compete globally.
Ecosystem by the Numbers
Fintech
According to Magnitt, Cairo attracted the largest number of investment deals in MENA in 2019, with Fintech the top sector. Egypt hash 95 million mobile users, the highest penetration in EMEA, 14 million e-wallets, a young population, and several government initiatives aimed at financial inclusion. In 2019, Fawry, a local e-payment provider, filed for an IPO after processing 1 billion transactions worth $3 billion. Cairo has several fintech accelerators and funds, including the Central Bank of Egypt’s $58 million fund and Disruptech’s $25 million fund.
Tranport
Cairo saw the highest growth in transport startup investments in 2019 across MENA.1 In 2019, Cairo’s first on-demand bus service, SWVL, raised $42 million in Series C funding to expand to Africa and Asia. Following SWVL’s success, Uber and Careem have chosen Cairo to launch their first bus service. Demand for transport, logistics and supply chain optimization services fueled investments in startups like Halan ($20 million), Maxab ($6.2 million) and Trella.
Reasons to Move Your Startup to Cairo
Abundant Resources
Entrepreneurs can draw talent from over 150 universities and institutes producing 500,000 annual graduates, access a network of over 40 incubators/accelerators and 80 co-working spaces, and tap ITIDA’s support to exhibit at international events.
COVID-19 Policy
Large Customer Market
With a young population of 20 million tech-savvy consumers, Cairo provides a perfect test bed for innovation and an attractive market for scalability, such as expansions of Amazon’s Souq and Uber’s Careem.
Selected Startup Organizations
Startup Genome Members
Information Technology Industry Development Agency
Since its establishment, ITIDA’s core ideology was: “Spearheading the development of Egypt`s ICT industry to increase its global competitiveness, which will make it a key contributor to the country economic growth”.
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