The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Egypt’s startup ecosystem has been growing dramatically over recent years. Indeed, it seems that every day we publish articles on creative social enterprises, and unique business models. Additionally, there are forums which look to highlight the journeys of successful startups, in hopes of providing guidance to entrepreneurs in the making. Take, for example, an event like RiseUp Summit, which presented its attendees with a line-up of speakers that would surely help anyone looking to start their own business. There was also, of course, RiseUp Summit’s after party; an event, hosted by Mindsalike, where the hottest entrepreneurs got the chance to mix and mingle with some of the biggest investors in town.

Given all this, we were not shocked to hear that Egypt – in addition to Saudi Arabia – has become a top contender in the MENA region’s startup business scene, according to Raed Ventures, a Saudi venture capital firm owned by Almajdouie Holding, a company which looks to sponsor early stage startups in the MENA region.

In a meeting at the London Business School Middle East Conference, Omar Almajdouie, the founding partner and CEO of Raed Ventures, recently stated “that while the UAE has ingrained a strong position in the region’s present entrepreneurial ecosystem, Egypt and Saudi Arabia will have a strong entrance in the next wave of startups in the region.”

Raed Ventures has welcomed two new Egyptian companies to their portfolio: “AqarMap” and “Unifonic”. AqarMap is a real estate marketplace operating in Egypt. Unifonic is the leading cloud communication platform for global emerging markets. Raed Ventures has announced on its website that they are proud investors in AqarMap, as it is the leading and fastest growing real estate marketplace in Egypt, also with a presence in Saudi Arabia. 

“Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be the biggest inception point of the next wave of startups in the region”, said Omar Almajdouie, referring to Cairo-based Swvl as a model.