THE EGYPTIAN STARTUP

ECOSYSTEM
Mar 2014

Content
The Rise of Entrepreneurship in Egypt
An Overview of the Ecosystem Players
Is it working?
Interactions with External Ecosystems
The Role of Women
Whats Next?

THE RISE OF
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
IN EGYPT

A skyrocketing Interest in
Entrepreneurship
Interest over Time
Entrepreneur

Source:

Triggered in 2011 by a strong adoption of internet

usage, digital tools, and a belief in the power of

3 Drivers
Cultural
A growing sense
of
Independence
and Can do it
attitude
Utopic Desire to
support local
economy
Return of
Experienced
Egyptian VCs

Technologica
l
Huge increase
in Internet
Penetration
Mass adoption
of social
networks and
digital services

Economic
Slowing
Economy After
the revolution
Lack of new
projects/
investments to
employ
educated youth

AN OVERVIEW OF THE
ECOSYSTEM PLAYERS

Eco-System Players
Venture
Capitalists
NGOs and
Events

Entrepreneurs

Government

Accelerators &
Incubators
Universities

Entrepreneurs

Selected Stories

NGOs and Events

Accelerators and Incubators

2011 by Sawari Ventures

6 Rounds 40 Companies

Government Backed
30 Companies

V-Lab
2013 by AUC
6 Companies in Round 1

2014 supporter Local

Digital Media Company

Venture Capitalists
Angels

Individual Angels
KIAngel

NO Growth
Focused
Funds!

Seed and Series A

2010
6 Investments

2011
22
Investments

2011
3 Investments

2011
9 Investments
2012
3
investments

Government & Universities

Incubators and Events
Regulations
Entrepreneur Mind-set
The Missing Link

IS IT WORKING?

Replications vs. Innovation

Competition VS. Cooperation

Raising Capital VS. Bootstrapping

Hype VS. Know-How

INTERACTIONS WITH
EXTERNAL
ECOSYSTEMS?

External Ecosystem Interactions

A closely tied MENA Ecosystem
o Financing
o Cooperation
o Product Markets
o Same know-how
External Ties
o The Silicon Valley Question
o Global Players focusing on MENA

THE ROLE OF WOMEN

How are women contributing?

Women Entrepreneurs

Women Investors

WHATS NEXT?

The Second Wave of Entrepreneurship in

Egypt?
Growing Beyond the Hype
Filtering out the crowds
The Rise of Serial Entrepreneurs
Creating the need for growth investors

Share your thoughts

Email: Hanan.youssef@gmail.com
Twitter: @hsyousef

EXTRA SLIDES

>$200M
Investments Roundup 2012/2013
Souq.com

$40M

Jumia*

$61M

Namshi

$13M

MarkaVIP

Ikoo

$3.0M

Diwanee

$3.5M

$10M

Easy Taxi

$7M

Himzatee

$1.6M

Careem

$1.7M

Glambox

$1.4M

Cedar Books

$1M

Other Ecom.**

$2.6M

Ecommerce >$130M

Yemeksepeti

$44M

HelloFood

$8M

~$0.7M
Gate2Play
~$0.7M
Wixel Studios ~$0.7M

Anghami

Digital
Publishing &
Advertising
$6.5M
Ground
Transportation
$8.7M

Food Ordering
$52M

Other

* Across Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco

** Swipe&tap, Shahiya, Epecerie, Jamalon,
Mydeal.ma

Notable Funds
STC ventures, managed by Iris Capital $50M
Building Block Equity Fund managed by MEVP $15M
Naspers (South Africa) dedicating investments of $634M

into Developing Markets

Millicom ($426M over 3 years for 50% of Rocket-Internets

Latin American and African Holdings)

Humming Bird Ventures $240 overall with $40M for MENA
Early Bird Ventures $338M globally
IdeaVelopers $50M

Accelerators and Incubators

Flat6Labs
Cairo - 6 cycles with 36 companies graduates
Established a KSA based program
Notable companies include instabug, Integreight, Nafham..
Oasis 500
First startup accelerator in MENA (Jordan)
Global partnerships with 500Startups and others
More than 56 graduates

New additions in MENA

JuiceLabs (Egypt)
PITME (Silicon Valley based, focusing on MENA startups)
V-Lab (AUC)

Notable Startups
Instabug: Wins First Place at 6th MIT Arab Startup Competition (April

2013) App Testing

Instabeat: 2014 Best of Innovations Design and Engineering Wearable

heart rate monitor for athletes

Integreight: Closed Kickstarter funding goal in 6 hours!
Mubser: Wins Idea To Product I2P 2013 Global Competition in Sao

Paulo
Karm Solar: The first company to install a high-capacity off-grid solar

water pumping station in the Middle East and North Africa in April 2013.
Jeraan and Dakwak receive funding from 500Startups. Dakwak moves to

SV

Notable Exits
Cobone.com: ~$40M buyout by
Kammelna: $10M

Tiger Global Managemen

by Peak Games (Saudi cards game)

Zawya: $40M by Thompson Reuters

Dubizzle: 50% Buyout by Naspers (un-disclosed $)