Expect much of startup funding to still come from Egypt before this year ends. This goes to say that the startup ecosystem in the country is very much alive and that a lot of young startup owners are now more determined than ever. New to the list are two startups, XPay, and Colnn which have just raised an aggregate of $350, 000.
XPay
Egypt’s fintech startup XPay secured $250,000 in pre-seed funding from two angel investors. XPay is part of the cohort currently participating in Startupbootcamp Fintech Cairo.
XPay was founded in 2018 by Dr. Mohamed AbdelMottaleb, to empower communities to go cashless. The startup enables universities, schools, gyms, social and sports clubs, residential compounds and different other communities to set up their offerings and collect payment online. XPay’s mobile app allows members in these communities to pay in less than a minute using debit/credit cards, mobile wallet, and a cash collection service.
“XPay was established to become the platform of choice for all members of the family — eliminating the stress of juggling numerous transactions, subscription and bill payments, payment methods and due dates. One platform to ease the unavoidable inconvenience of modern living,” Dr. Mohamed AbdelMottaleb, founder and CEO of XPay said in an interview.
The startup plans to use the use of this funding to grow the company and also expand its team.
Colnn
The Cairo-based ed-tech startup Colnn has also raised $100,000 from EdVentures, the VC arm of Egypt’s leading publisher Nahder Misr, the startup announced earlier this week. EdVentures also runs an accelerator program for education startups in Egypt.
Founded in 2015 by Tamer Samir, Colnn, per the statement, is a cloud-based school management system that comes with a mobile app, enabling schools to manage their operations, processes, activities, and communication between parents, teachers, and students. The mobile app by Colnn connects teachers and parents allowing parents to keep an eye on their children’s performance and daily activities.
According to Colnn’s website, the students also get an online account that enables them to access announcements, attendance, homework, online quizzes, and their time table.
It’s not clear if Colnn has a per-student subscription model for schools (which is what’s used by a large number of similar SaaS startups) or it charges the school a monthly subscription fee regardless of the number of students they have.
The startup, according to the statement, works with each school to customize its solutions and software according to their requirements (as long customization requirements meet their strategy).
”We’re not sure about the extent of customization but it would be safe to assume that it includes minor tweaks as anything major normally requires a lot of resources and the cost of those changes and upgrades normally outweigh the benefits unless its a very big client,” the startup noted.
See Also: Why Startup Ecosystem in Africa’s French-Speaking Countries Is The Least Funded In Africa
Tamer Samir, founder, and CEO of Colnn commenting on the investment said, “Becoming a part of EdVentures will definitely support our expansion plans. Nahdet Misr’s over 80 years of experience in the education sector and its local and international network will help us enter new markets.”
Dalia Ibrahim, the Founder of EdVentures and the CEO of Nahdet Misr Publishing House, added,
“We were keen to add Colnn to our portfolio of companies as it perfectly aligns with our objective of developing and offering new and innovative educational solutions that further strengthen the educational sector in our country.”
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.