In its second pre-Series A round led by Egypt Ventures, with participation from Alexandria Fund (AF), Cairo Angels, Alex Angels, HULT Alumni Angels along with foreign angel investors, Egypt-based life science company Nawah Scientific has raised $1 million in a combination of equity and debt.
This round brings the startup’s total funding so far to $2 million, making it the foremost funded bioscience venture within the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Nawah now plans to shut its Series A round later in 2021.
The latest investment came on the heels of Nawah’s launch of its new hub of labs, described as “the biggest private multidisciplinary research hub in Egypt”. Previously in 2019, Nawah also won second place and a gift of $15,000 at the primary edition of Jack Ma’s Africa Netpreneur Prize.
Founded in 2015, Nawah looks to empower research project and scientists by enabling them to hold out higher quality research no matter their location. Through its online platform, Nawah receives experiment requests from scientists. the corporate then dispatches a courier to them to gather samples for analysis in order that Nawah’s in-house scientists can perform the specified tests and return the results online.
The company currently operates only in Egypt but caters to clients round the world. So far, it’s analysed over 50,000 samples from quite 3000 clients across nine countries, with plans to accelerate its presence in Mena and set a foot within the African market.
“Every day, I realise that Nawah’s potential is much beyond our initial imagination which we are barely scratching the surface. I’m extremely thankful to the amazing team of scientists who are making this happen,” said Omar Sakr, Nawah’s founder.
The fresh funds will enable Nawah to form inroads into the food, agriculture, and petrochemical industries, and expand to the Saudi market in 2021 Q3, Sakr told Wamda.
“Egypt Ventures has a clear mandate to support outstanding Egyptian startups that bring real value to the Egyptian community,” said Ahmed Gomaa, CEO of Egypt Ventures.We have seen Nawah first-hand, and we have seen how they fulfil their commitment to empower scientific research in the area of the Middle East and Africa, and we are excited to be part of their journey as they scale their offerings and grow into new markets.
