Joining the league of fund raisers even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic is Egypt’s startup Argineering which has raised $400,000, closing its seed round led by 500 Startups and Flat6Labs Cairo.
‘‘In the middle of COVID19, the true entrepreneurs and investors reveal themselves. Entrepreneurship has no politics. We expect to write over 300 checks this year at @500Startups. Be part of 18 unicorns and 90+ Centaurs. The next unicorn and centaur founders are starting today,’’ Tim Chae, general partner at 500 Startups noted in a tweet.
Here Is The Deal
- Also participating in this round of investment is an Angel Investor, Islam Mahdy, who is also the chairman and CEO of Credence and a hospitality entrepreneur who excels in designing human-centered experiences.
- With this investment Argineering is looking to accelerate the development of a new feature backed by Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics.
- Translating the customer interaction to data, Argineering’s co-founders David Erian and Islam Gamal are betting on this feature to be their biggest revenue stream.
- In 2018, the same year it was founded in, Argineering won both RiseUp’s pitch competition and CBC’s Hona El-Assema and has been making waves in Europe ever since.
Why The Investors Invested
500 Startups, one of the lead investors has been very active investing in North African and Middle Eastern (MENA) startups. Argineering is raising this $400k barely a few weeks after Garment IO secured $450k from investors including 500 Startups; and the fact that Argineering and Garment IO had previously participated in the RiseUp 2018 Startup Pitch Competition, goes a long way to show that Argineering is merely benefiting from the Egypt’s startup community it has been around in for some time now.
500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. In May 2017, it announced the launch of its new MENA focused fund, 500 Falcons, to double-down on MENA startups and founders. The fund is led by Hasan Haider, based in Bahrain, and Sharif El-Badawi, based in Silicon Valley, with personnel on the ground in Saudi Arabia and various other countries in the region.
‘‘Beyond providing seed capital, 500 further supports startups via its Seed Programs in San Francisco and Mexico City and the Series A Program in multiple locations globally. The Seed Program emphasizes digital marketing, customer acquisition, lean startup practices, and fundraising for pre-Seed companies. The 500 Series A Program delivers growth marketing and investment for post-seed and pre-Series A companies. 500 Startups is also aiming to contribute to the development of thriving innovation ecosystems around the world to better equip startups with tools to succeed by running educational programs, events and conferences, and partnerships with corporations and governments around the world,’’ the VC notes.
A Look At What Argineering Does
- Argineering is an interactive design lab that provides shop owners and artists with devices that would enable them to create customer interaction through window displays and installations.
- With their product “RG Kit,” Argineering had to think meticulously about the market they should start at. Their eyes landed on one of Europe’s busiest shopping avenues, Oxford Street in London.
- Their product quite literally caught the eyes of shopping arenas like Selfridges and Ted Baker.
- However, Argineering also caters for cultural venues like museums and showrooms; London Science Museum is also one of its clients portfolio.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com