Nawy, Africa’s largest proptech company, announced successful close of $52 million Series A funding round. Together with this new capital, they hope to change the real estate game in Egypt and across the MENA region. Co-founders Mostafa El Beltagy, Abdel-Azim Osman, Ahmed Rafea, Mohamed Abou Ghanima, and Aly Rafea bootstrapped Nawy in 2019. The company’s overall mission is to address the transparency and efficiency concerns that have historically afflicted the Egyptian real estate industry.
The funding round, led by Partech Africa — a venture capital firm focused entirely on Africa — created an impressive buzz. It raised $23 million in debt financing from leading Egyptian banks. With this recent award, Nawy has leveraged $75 million in funding. The company plans to use this round of funding to accelerate product development and help integrate artificial intelligence into its platform.
A Journey Rooted in Personal Experience
Mostafa El Beltagy’s entry into the proptech industry began with a personal annoyance. As you can imagine, he found the complexities of investing in real estate in Egypt daunting. This experience ignited his passion for change. Along with his co-founders, he launched Nawy—an app-based platform that works to make buying, selling, investing, financing, and managing real estate as accessible as possible.
At first, Nawy had trouble getting property listings as well as making a niche in the crowded marketplace. Thanks to hard work and out-of-the-box thinking, it has grown into a full-fledged real estate marketplace. Today, the platform is excited to be working with more than 150 different developers. Combined, they control more than 90 percent of Egypt’s new build market, which hovers around $30 billion and includes nearly 100,000 transactions annually.
Expanding Reach and Enhancing Services
Nawy has found early success in winning the hearts of users and service providers, tooll! Today, more than 3,000 brokerages are using Nawy Partners on a daily basis, allowing them to access live inventory and choose between multiple payout methods. Together, the platform attracts more than a million visitors a month. This bustling marketplace creates a competitive space where hundreds of developers are forced to compete for attention.
Additionally, demand for real estate as an inflation hedge and devaluation of currency has contributed to Nawy’s growth trajectory. As investors look for safe havens during today’s uncertain economic climate, Nawy is at the forefront as an important solution to these needs. The company intends to make smaller company acquisitions to build out its capabilities. These acquisitions will further cement its position as Africa’s largest proptech platform.
Future Developments on the Horizon
Now with this new round of capital, Nawy is well-positioned to focus first and foremost on product innovation and creating exciting technology. The company’s goal is to leverage new artificial intelligence technology to make things easier and faster to use on their all-in-one platform.
Tidjane Deme from Partech Africa expressed confidence in Nawy’s potential: “We’re excited to support Nawy as they build the foundation for a modern, tech-driven real estate experience.” This excitement for change illustrates the optimism and hype behind Nawy and its potential to reshape real estate transactions across Egypt.
El Beltagy noted that their approach is akin to offering a mortgage alternative tailored for the local context: “It’s mortgage packaged differently because mortgages are almost non-existent here.” This creative approach will open the door for more Egyptians to invest in real estate.