Cairo Angels, a global network of angel investors focused on supporting startup opportunities in Egypt, the Middle East and Africa, is delighted to announce its top finalists who will move to the final round and pitch their solution virtually on Wednesday at 6:00 PM CT.

Finalist Startups are: 

• Kofoof under iNet.works, founded by Mohammad AboAli, iNet.works is a software company that specializes in business software development that helps worldwide businesses succeed. 

- Markazzy, founded by Omar Nasser, the first platform in Egypt that helps homeowners find, choose and use home improvement products with ease and convenience. 

- NIoTEK, founded by Anas Naguib, NIoTEK is a startup that joins hardware and Software and apply them in Internet of Things (IoT) to help companies make better. 

- Tactful AI, founded by Mohamed Elmasry, Tactful is AI-powered and data-centric customer engagement technology. Unlike traditional contact center and helpdesk solutions that only optimize the workload, Tactful uses AI and real-time analytics to provide 360-view of the customer and empower customer care agents to deliver personalized and rewarding experience across digital platforms.

The initiative was launched by Mr. Ayman Ashour, Advisory Board Member at The Cairo Angels has decided to support the campaign  #نحنا في ضهرك ("We’ve Got Your Back") one week ago with EGP 100,000, which aims at helping elderly or vulnerable people living alone complete their shopping and errands. lowering their risk of infection from the novel coronavirus.

The network is seeking to establish a secure and updated database for volunteers, whose identity can be verified through social media accounts and ID cards, with the inclusion of reviews.

Zeina Mandour, General Manager at The Cairo Angels said “We are launching a series of activities to support startups in MENA region.“ 

Also Zeina highlighted that Cairo Angels believes in the importance of solidarity with the most vulnerable and the idea of this campaign is to bring the ingenuity of startups, technology for a societal support and solidarity effort at this time of global crisis. 

Finally she mentioned “We at Cairo Angels are grateful for the support of our partners Mayday and Microsoft who have agreed to provide additional important awards to the ultimate winner of the competition.“ 

The winner will be announced on Thursday after the voting is done and will start working directly with The Cairo Angels team who will provide mentorship and support for his solution besides the funding.

source: magnitt

From medical consultations to free services, local startups become more agile in light of crisis

More startups and entrepreneurship stakeholders have started to adapt and enhance their services in light of the COVID-19 - known as the “coronavirus” - spread, in an aim to help customers and partners get through this phase safely and healthy.

Highlights from the ecosystem:

• The Cairo Angels seeks solutions for “We’ve got your back” initiative with EGP 100,000

Angel investment network The Cairo Angels is supporting the #احنا_في_ضهرك (“We’ve got your back”) initiative with EGP 100,000, which aims at helping elderly or vulnerable people living alone complete their shopping and errands.

The network is seeking to establish a secure and updated database for volunteers, whose identity can be verified through social media accounts and ID cards, with the inclusion of reviews.

Hence, existing startups and/or startup founders are needed to develop the product and launch it within one week. Applications are accepted until March 25th, 2020.

• Taskty offers sanitization services for companies, factories

Home improvement website Taskty built teams to offer sanitization services for companies and factories alike at cheap prices, following the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Additionally, Taskty is conducting phone training with the cleaners, technicians and workers that are registered on their website on how to best keep themselves and their customers safe.

• estshara launches “Salamet Masr” initiative

Medical consultation platform estshara launched the Salamet Masr initiative to help fight COVID-19, by providing free medical consultations on the coronavirus through its application by consulting a doctor via a voice call or text chat.

Moreover, the app spreads awareness and educates the community about the symptoms and methods of preventing the disease.

Users can access the free consultations by entering the Promocode “freedoc” in the estshara application, available until March 31, 2020. estshara is a platform that provides online healthcare consultations, aiming to make healthcare services accessible to everyone in the MENA region.

• WideBotbuilds free Arabic-speaking chatbots for businesses

Arabic chatbot company WideBot is offering three months of bot building for free on their platform, so that businesses can completely shift their communication with other brands, employees and customers online. Using the Promocode “BeSafe” allows interested businesses and startups to set up their chatbots, and thus, reduce face-to-face interactions. Widebot is the first Arabic-focused bot-builder platform, which does not require coding and uses AI to maximize conversions and increase loyalty.

• TakeStep offers free sessions, launches COVID-19 symptom-checker with Al-Tibbi

Egyptian healthcare startup TakeStep now offers startups and their families free psychiatric sessions in order to help them cope with the psychological impact of the COVID-19 spread worldwide. Psychologists are coining the term “corona phobia” to describe how people are affected by the panic and fear that comes along with the virus-spread. This could include anxiety, depression, as well as severe fear of germs. Additionally, TakeStep partnered with Al-Tibbi to launch a free symptom-checker for the coronavirus, in which website visitors can enter the symptoms they feel, and be diagnosed either positive or negative for COVID-19.

• Brainy Squad launches free online consultations for businesses

Creative agency Brainy Squad launched free online consultation sessions to support businesses facing economic consequences of the spread of COVID-19.

These sessions provide expertise to help businesses adopt the best digital transformation tactics to ensure continuity and growth under the current conditions. Brainy Squad is a creative one-stop-shop for businesses’ digital and creative needs.

• Breadfast waives delivery fees, adds more products for customers’ convenience

Online native grocery application Breadfast added more commodities to its offering at their customers’ convenience, in support of the ''stay at home'' safety measures.

These products include fruits, vegetables, groceries, hand sanitizers and face masks. Additionally, the company applied special safety standards at all stages of production, packaging, and delivery, while customers can leave a note to have their order left at the door.

Breadfast also waived all delivery fees until the end of the month in support of customers’ circumstances during the current times.

Breadfast is an online grocery application that produces fresh bakeries using products like eggs and flour also produced by Breadfast, in addition to providing other groceries delivered daily to their customers’ doorstep.

source: zawya

Elmenus, the Egyptian startup that is fast-becoming a leader in the food discovery, ordering, and delivery sector, has secured USD 8 Mn in funding in a Series B round co-led by UAE-based VC fund, Global Ventures, and Egypt’s Algebra Ventures.

Founded in 2011 by CEO Amir Allam, and having previously raised USD 1.5 Mn in Series A funding from Algebra Ventures in 2017, Elmenus has achieved rapid success.

Since its founding, the startup has launched online ordering operations and, more recently, its own fleet service while also scaling from 20 to 200 employees, attracting top-tier talent, experiencing double-digit growth monthly, and eliminating that “What to eat today” concern for many people.

“We are incredibly excited to announce Global Ventures’ investment in a leading food-tech startup such as Elmenus, and look forward to working closely with the team in terms of driving further value creation opportunities that result in continued growth,” states Basil Moftah, General Partner at Global Ventures. 

With its foundation of loyal users built via a comprehensive platform targeted to enable users to discover and order food online (app and website), elmenus has grown rapidly within the Egyptian market.

The startup claims to have onboarded over 8,000 restaurants and while serving approximately 1.2 million monthly active users in a short period. And this would have had a bearing on the Series B raise.

“With their first raise of USD 1.5 Mn, Elmenus proved our original investment thesis that a strong local player with a broader offering can have disproportionate achievement. The company has unique efficiencies and this round could be enough to secure its leadership in the rapidly growing digital market in Egypt.”, says Ziad Mokhtar, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures.

The latest funding round also drew participation from Tarek Sakr and Hamad Al Homaizi, who are both prominent entrepreneurs most notable for having partially exited 4Sale, the leading Kuwait-based classifieds platform to NBK Capital last year.

The duo would be hoping to profit off of what is fast-becoming the leading food-tech startup in Egypt with a focus on personalizing food recommendations to users at the dish-level through digitized restaurant menus, reviews, and photos via its online food discovery and ordering platform.

“We believe our success as a startup is a combination of innovatively solving the right user problems, great team, and laser-focused execution. We have been able to grow the market in Egypt and accomplish great milestones very efficiently, we are excited about what we will do with this additional funding and the support of Global Ventures coming on board as we continue to scale across Egypt and help millions of more users to discover and order the food they will love,” states Amir Allam, Founder of Elmenus.

Egypt’s food discovery/ordering/delivery scene appears to be one of the most active on the African continent with a number of vibrant players including Uber Eats, Carriage, and Otlob.

With the latest investment, Elmenus seems to be strengthening its grip on a market that recently lost one of its bigger players in Glovo.

source: weetracker

The Egyptian government is working to move its entities to the new capital, and wants to provide adequate transportation services to the public sector employees

The Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El Said, has discussed with the General Manager of Uber Egypt, Ahmed Khalil, expanding the services of the ride-hailing application to the New Administrative Capital.

The Egyptian government is working to move its entities to the new capital, and wants to provide adequate transportation services to the public sector employees, the minister further noted.

El Said vowed to provide a suitable environment for Uber’s expansion plan, referring to the success of the Uber Bus services that launched for the first time in the world from Cairo.

The minister further stressed the need for creating a feature for frequent passengers to cater to the needs of students and employees.

Uber launched in Egypt in 2014, according to Khalil, who noted that the company now has more than 130,000 drivers.

The company is planning an Uber for Government service for public sector employees in the new capital, he further indicated, with studies to introduce the Uber Intercity programme across all governorates.

soruce: zawya