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Our Portfolio

We are investing in trailblazing companies and their founders, transforming industries, disrupting the status quo, and finding technology-based solutions for some of the critical issues their ecosystems face. To date, we have invested in 19 extraordinary startups and two seed stage vehicles in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, re-shaping their respective industries and markets. We have had the privilege to work with an exceptional set of diverse founders, and always strive to bring our expertise, operational support, and value-add to the companies we work with.

Industry: Fintech

Year founded: 2020

Location of operations: Egypt

ADVA

ADVA is a smart mobile application designed to help users receive access to any needed service with installment plans tailored to the user’s needs. The company operates as a platform, connecting users to financial providers, whereby ADVA ensures that users will enjoy the best services in health, education, finishing, car services and insurance with the strongest network through an easy and simple process.

BNPL companies have been on the rise, but few providers offer installment plans for critical services, such as education or health expenses. In countries like Egypt, where few people have access to personal loans, ADVA’s service fills a critical gap.

The close working partnership between ADVA and lenders has allowed ADVA to streamline its loan pre-approval process to a short waiting period of a maximum of 48 hours. Between January 2021 and August 2022, ADVA managed to acquire 6,000 active users, 1,800 service providers, and seven lenders while facilitating transactions across eight different service industries.

Industry: EdTech

Year founded: 2016

Location of operations: Egypt

Almentor

Almentor is an e-learning platform in the Edtech space, bringing high-quality educational content in video format to people across the MENA region. Working with experts in their respective fields, the company has produced over 29,000 videos with more than 300 professionals in fields including business, technology, wellness and entrepreneurship.

Continuous education online and masterclass-style learning experiences have seen a significant rise globally, not least driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Arabic-speaking region has long been under-served, relying on English-language content that was only accessible to a selected few. The launch of almentor.net has changed that, bringing educational content of international quality to people in the region in an accessible way. This is critical in a country and region where access to education continues to be a challenge, especially in rural areas

Since launching in 2016, Almentor has reached 2m+ users with 3m+ learning experiences, working with end-users directly as well as with corporate and institutional clients providing trainings and workshops to their staff.

 

Industry: FinTech

Year founded: 2021

Location of operations: Egypt

Axis

Axis is a recently founded fintech company, whose open-loop wallet is bringing critical access to financial products to Egypt’s underserved population. Through the Axis mobile wallet and virtual Visa card, users can send, spend, get paid, and save – all from their mobile phones. In parallel, Axis for Business is enabling cash-based SMEs to digitize payroll. SME employees can receive their salaries on an Axis mobile wallet and benefit from earned salary advances, get reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses, and earn points & cashback when they spend using the Axis wallet. This is only the second time a license for an open-loop wallet has been granted in Egypt. Sawari invested in Axis early, when it was just a proof of concept, because we have a tremendous belief in the founding team and the positive impact the product will have in creating access to finance and financial inclusion.

Industry: FinTech

Year founded: 2020

Location of operations: Egypt

blnk

blnk is a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider working with merchants (B2B) to provide access to critical products, such as home electronics, appliances, and healthcare, via easy installment plans. blnk’s algorithm which screens (prospective) clients and determines the approval and size of installment plan, is innovative in its design and execution as it provides users with credit in minutes while ensuring a stringent vetting process.

To date, blnk has onboarded more than 300 merchants offering their clients the option to purchase via installment plans through blnk. And more than 60 thousand customers have used these installment plans to pay for everyday expenses that can improve livelihoods and contribute to a stronger economy.

Industry: E-commerce & enabling technology

Year founded: 2019

Location of operations: Egypt

Brantu

Brantu is a creative fashion brand made by and for the social generation. Brantu’s clothes are made to always offer cool pieces with prices that won’t break the bank. Brantu is on the mission to build the most integrated fashion operating system by digitizing the fashion demand and supply chain connecting brands, retailers, and manufacturers in frontier markets under a single technology stack.

Industry: Healthtech

Year founded: 2019

Location of operations: Egypt

Docspert 

Docspert Health is a telehealth company offering medical consultations by renowned international medical experts to patients in Egypt and across the Middle East and Africa. Docspert Health puts together and curates’ networks of high-quality healthcare providers: doctors, hospitals and diagnostic centres and through their online platform and technology, matches patients according to their condition, location and affordability to the most appropriate high-quality healthcare provider. The international medical expert provides their medical opinion either through a video consultation with the patient or via virtual case review with a comprehensive written report. Throughout their health journey, patients are supported locally by medically qualified case managers.

In many emerging markets, healthcare can vary considerably in quality. Furthermore, there is little data, guidance or means to enable patients to identify and access high quality providers, and so access to high-quality healthcare can be difficult and challenging, even by those with strong financial means. Yet, access to high quality healthcare is crucial because poor quality healthcare, leading to incorrect diagnosis and treatment, can have lasting and sometimes devastating effects on health, well-being and healthcare costs. Thus, the demand for second opinions from internationally renowned experts is high yet for most, it is difficult to find, or unaffordable due to the need to travel. Docspert Health is filling this gap by bringing world-class medical care to patients in emerging markets through a well-curated network of experts, online without the need for travel.

To date, Docspert Health has onboarded over 197 medical experts in over 40 specialties from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US. 791 patients have received a consultation through Docspert Health and international experts have adjusted or changed an initial diagnosis in about 89.7% of cases.

Industry: Tourism

Year founded: 2017

Location of operations: Egypt

Elves

Elves is a travel app that helps users experience exciting destinations safely with the knowledge and support of local travel experts (the elves) always available in chat. The company recruits local travel experts living in Egypt to give support, tips, and local recommendations to travelers via the app, providing tourists with access to live support wherever they go. Local experts know their hometowns inside and out and are there to support travelers every step of their trip – from planning to making arrangements and giving local insights and recommendations, the elves help users navigate the entire trip.

By unlocking the knowledge of local travel experts combined with the scalability of AI, Elves’s mandate is to deliver authentic travel experiences for all by building the world’s largest knowledge base for how to do just that. Elves are thus digitizing the tour guiding experience, making it available 24/7 on a seamless app.

Industry: E-commerce & enabling technology

Year founded: 2013

Location of operations: Egypt

Expandcart

ExpandCart is the fastest-growing Arabic ecommerce platform in the Middle East. Over the past couple of years, ExpandCart acquired hundreds of clients ranging from individuals & small companies to enterprise-level corporations, creating impressive traction and success for clients. One platform to sell, ship, and market your products on the web, on social media channels, and through a mobile app, with tons of built-in features, apps, tools, and services.

Industry: FinTech

Year founded: 2019

Location of operations: Egypt

Fatura

Fatura is a fintech-enabled B2B marketplace. Established in 2019, Fatura connects suppliers (manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers) with retailers across 22 governorates in Egypt, enabling price transparency, financial inclusion, and access to real-time and accurate data. In the FMCG sector alone, Fatura has more than 1000 suppliers selling to more than 66,000 retailers in a range of 30,000+ unique stock keeping units (SKUs). Fatura is growing across verticals as well as across industries while leading the way to become the first application serving the full traditional trade cycle. What started as a marketplace platform connecting FMCG wholesalers and retailers has transformed into a fintech solution adding further value to its users.

In 2022, Sawari Ventures exited Fatura when it was acquired by Tanmeyah, the microfinance arm of EFG Hermes.

Industry: Accelerator Program

Year founded: 2011

Location of operations: Egypt

Flat6Labs Cairo

Flat6Labs is the MENA region’s leading seed and early-stage investor, currently running the most renowned startup programs in the region.

In the ten years since its founding, Flat6Labs has launched 8 investment vehicles in 7 locations, invested in over 300 portfolio companies, supported over 2k founders, and provided over 13k training and mentorship hours.

Sawari Ventures invested in Flat6Labs FAC Seed Fund (Flat6Labs Cairo) in 2020.

One of Flat6Labs Cairo’s portfolio companies is Chefaa, an application that offers medication delivery, prescription refills, and dosage reminders. It also helps by locating nearby pharmacies and offers 24/7 medical support. The all-female founding team graduated from the Cairo Seed program in 2018 and received an investment from FAC.

Industry: Accelerator Program

Year founded: 2017

Location of operations: Tunisia

Flat6Labs Tunis

Flat6Labs is the MENA region’s leading seed and early-stage investor, currently running the most renowned startup programs in the region. Sawari Ventures invested in Flat6Labs Anava Seed Fund (Flat6Labs Tunis) in 2020.

One of Flat6Labs Tunis’s portfolio companies is Gomycode, a programming school that fills educational gaps by delivering high-end IT education to students. The company now runs ‘hacker spaces’ in eight countries. Gomycode graduated from the F6L Tunis Seed program in 2019 and received an investment from Anava Seed Fund.

Industry: Logistics & transportation

Year founded: 2016

Location of operations: Tunisia

Fulfillment Bridge

Fulfillment Bridge is a Tunis-based fourth-party logistics provider (4PL) looking to bridge the cross-border logistics gap. Propelled by its extensive database of value chain anomalies and exceptions, Fulfillment Bridge offers a one-stop fully integrated cloud-based platform for e-commerce merchants to manage all parts of the logistics value chain. The company further sets out to streamline all hurdles and inefficiencies across the logistics value chain by coordinating and outsourcing the entire process for e-commerce merchants through their network of partners. The company thus acts as a single interface between the value chain and e-commerce merchants.
Today, Fulfillment Bridge provides one of the most comprehensive cross-border logistics services on the market and has delivered products to customers in 82 countries. The company has onboarded over 100 partners, offering the following services: first-mile, air freight, last-mile delivery, freight forwarding, global shipping insurance, domestic and international shipping, customs clearance, returns management, tracking, inventory management, and more.

Industry: E-commerce & enabling technology

Year founded: 2013

Location of operations: Egypt

Goodsmart

GoodsMart is a grocery e-commerce company that offers users access to a range of 30,000+ products from 180+ suppliers and local brands through a smart App. Orders are delivered overnight in a pre-installed box. This contactless and hassle-free delivery process provides a more seamless shopping experience for users while saving over 700K kg of CO2 in 2022 alone and taking vehicles off of Cairo’s congested streets through its single-trip delivery system during late night hours. 

GoodsMart is working with real estate developers in Cairo’s sprawling suburbs, where the nearest supermarket can be far away. To date, the company has entered partnerships with 7 of Egypt’s top developers and has over 350k+ units contracted. GoodsMat serves 470+ compounds in both Cairo and Giza.

Industry: Fintech

Year founded: 2017

Location of operations: Egypt

Kashier

Kashier is a digital payment platform that aims
to grow your business by enabling fast, easy and secure acceptance of digital payments from your customers and partners. Kashier celebrates achievement when digital services enable your business to interact with the growing digital economy, adding direct value to your bottom line.

Industry: FinTech

Year founded: 2018

Location of operations: Egypt

MoneyFellows

Financial inclusion and access to finance are some of the most critical issues facing large portions of the Egyptian population – a country in which about a third of people are unbanked and fewer than 5% own credit cards. Companies in the fintech sphere have been setting out to change this, by providing innovative financial solutions to Egyptians.
One of the fintech companies setting out on this mission is our portfolio company Money Fellows. Money Fellows is a financial enabler that digitizes money circles or ROSCA (known as gam’eyas in the Arab world) This allows users to effectively manage and fulfill their financial need, without some of the common risks of microfinance, such as over-indebtedness or excessive interest.

Industry: Deeptech

Year founded: 2018

Location of operations: Egypt

Pearl

Pearl is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in high-performance Reference Clocks and Timing ICs. Timing chips are critical components for all today’s electronica applications.

Pearl’s first unique technology is SingleDie™ which is a true Single-Die technology where the resonator is a MEMS SAW Resonator integrated on the same CMOS Die, allowing for better performance across all parameters, smaller and lower in cost. Pearl’s SingleDie™ technology is characterized with its extended operating temperature range (up to +125 oC) and its better resistance for shock and vibration which makes it a perfect technology for building timing products for automotive and industrial applications.

Pearl’s second unique Technology is SpurFree™, a Patented All-Digital Ultra-Low Noise PLL Technology enabled by a complex DSP engine. SpurFree™ technology is capable of achieving a noise performance (RMS Jitter) that is superior to state-of-the-art technology in the industry and academia. This makes SpurFree™ the technology of choice for building timing products for next-generation Data Centers Connectivity, Optical Communication, Coherent Optics and 5G applications.

Pearl’s products are based on innovative manufacturing and patented IC design technologies achieving outstanding performance. Pearl Semiconductor aims to be the leading supplier of high-performance reference clocks and Timing ICs for industrial, networking, telecom, and automotive applications.

Industry: Deeptech

Year founded: 2018

Location of operations: Egypt

Proteinea

Proteinea is revolutionizing the accessibility of optimized and tailored protein therapeutics through innovative protein engineering and manufacturing methods leveraging nature’s own machinery. Through Proteinia’s state-of-the-art platform technology, it’s catalyzing the jump from bench to market. From data-efficient to knowledge-guided protein engineering, all the way to soft bioreactor protein production, Proteinea integrates engineering with biology and molecular sciences to accelerate building with biology.

Proteinea is the first biotech company of this caliber and sophistication to come out of Egypt. The company has masterfully built a world-class, top-performing ensemble of AI-driven protein engineering modules, outperforming the current market. Proteinea has expanded its team globally between Egypt, Canada, the USA, and the UK.

Industry: Deeptech

Year founded: 2004

Location of operations: Egypt, International

Si-Ware

Si-Ware’s NeoSpectra all-in-one, universal material analysis solution platform, built on a family of single-chip FT-NIR spectrometers, enables businesses to bring the lab to the field and makes the concept of analyzing anywhere with a high return on investment a reality. Combining portable analyzers that have unprecedented performance and accuracy with the NeoSpectra Lab Store, a secure place to discover and download test methods developed by FT-NIR technology experts, Si-Ware’s solutions deliver instant insights to industries such as agriculture, food, life sciences, and others.

The company’s handheld Neospectra Scanner, allows for the instant and cost-effective analysis of items such as food, animal feed, soil, and many others

Si-Ware’s NeoSpectra “lab on a chip” technology is revolutionary, transformative, and patented offering real-time, accurate, and affordable analysis thus expanding the scope of spectroscopy and its uses creating new multi-billion dollar markets. Additionally, the company boasts an exceptional management and engineering team spanning multiple countries with a stellar track record.

Industry: Logistics & transportation

Year founded: 2017

Location of operations: Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan

SWVL

Swvl is a global provider of transformative tech-enabled mass transit solutions that enhance mass transit safety, reliability, and convenience in some of the world’s most challenging and complex emerging markets. The differentiated proprietary technology stack features dynamic routing of high-capacity vehicles allowing unprecedented vehicle utilization and earnings levels for drivers with massively reduced walk-to-station distances and prices for riders.

Currently, Swvl operates in 135 cities in 20 countries across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Swvl buses have saved approximately 245mm pounds of CO2 emissions since the company’s inception. Swvl reports 99.86% accident-free rides and an average walk-to-station distance of .64km.

The company went public in March 2022 and is traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

KNGINE

Year founded: 2008

ACQUIRED

KNGINE is a natural language search engine that seeks to return meaningful and direct results to its users’ inquiries based upon its semantic technologies. After winning a startup competition, Kngine approached Sawari Ventures for investment. Kngine used the funding to launch a beta mobile application in June 2012 to showcase core technologies. In 2013, the product was further developed and achieved superior performance evaluations when compared to EVI, SIRI and Wolfram Alpha in third party benchmark testing. The company attracted international attention from investors and technology companies and was eventually acquired by Samsung in 2018.

Instabug

Year founded: 2012

Location of operations: Egypt

EXITED

Instabug is a software company that provides mobile app creators with tools such as bug detection, performance monitoring, crash reports, and more. The company joined the second batch of start-ups in the Flat6Labs Cairo acceleration program in 2012. In 2013, Instabug entered the MIT Enterprise Forum start-up competition, winning first place. In 2016, Instabug was accepted into the Y-Combinator program and later that year raised funding. Since then Instabug has reached over 25,000 companies and established numerous reputable partnerships with companies like Verizon, Airbnb, Spotify and more.