Amr Mostafa - Afrikan Heroes

Why Milango Acquired Egypt’s Prop-Tech Startup Circle

March 22, 2022

News emerged last week that the Egyptian prop-tech startup Circle has been acquired by community management startup Milango in a move that will see the latter add more than 100,000 residential units to its client base. However, the reason behind the acquisition was not made known as at the time of the transaction.

Circle was founded by Nancy Kamal and Essam Maged in 2020, and backed by 500 Global, Circle enables real estate developers as well as property owners to connect easily to tenants. Milango, meanwhile, was launched in 2021 by Amr Mostafa, and offers business clients tools to help them digitise via its set of community management tools. It is funded by A15.

Milango said that the acquisition of Circle is to increase its market share. The startup aims to leverage the acquisition to accelerate its growth in the community management category.

“I’m very proud of the work Milango’s team has done over the past 18 months. We have managed to exceed our initial usage expectations and established an engaged user base that are nearing EGP100 million in financial transactions with strong projected growth on that front for 2022. We are confident that with the acquisition of Circle and the addition of their premium clients to our portfolio, we are on the right track to bring #ASmarterLife to all communities,” said Amr Mostafa, Milango’s CEO.

“I strongly believe that the synergies this deal creates will shape a stronger proposition, that will serve millions of households across the region,” said Circle CEO Essam Maged.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Egypt’s Milango Secures Six Figure Investment To Assist Clubs Go Digital

October 7, 2020

Cairo-based startup Milango which enables offline communities to offer different services to their residents and members through mobile apps, has raised a six-figure (USD) seed investment in a round led by A15.

“With the support of our partners and A15’s strong technology ecosystem value they add to the equation, I am confident that Milango is on the right path to bringing the smart city of the future closer to today,” Amr Mostafa, the CEO of Milango, said.

Here Is What You Need To Know

The exact size of this investment was not disclosed.
Milango will use the latest investment to further improve its product and expand its team.

Why The Investor Invested

A15 is an Amsterdam-based Middle East and Africa-focused venture capital company that invests in digital products and technology brands.

“We invested in Milango because it makes sense due to the gap it is filling in the market as in digitally transforming communities whether compounds or clubs by making the experience served to its residents and members more seamless, appealing and meaningful,” A15’s Chairman, Fadi Antaki, said.

A Look At What The Startup Does

Milango which originally started as a service that Cairo-based digital agency Kijamii used to offer to some of its clients (since 2016), was founded by Amr Mostafa, who was previously with Endeavor Egypt, joining it as the CEO.

Milango works with residential compounds, sports, and social clubs, and some other types of offline communities to help them offer different types of services to their residents and members through branded mobile apps.

The main product of Milango, however, is its digital solution for large developers and communities. According to its website, the developers can offer a directory (of the community), guest invitations, home service, payment of utilities and rent, alerts, and other services through the app. They can also add and manage community events on these apps, and communicate with the residents. The social clubs can use it to create digital IDs of their members for access control, offer all types of payments through the app, enable members to make reservations, and even showcase and sell their merchandise.

Its solution is currently being used by some of the leading real estate developers in Egypt including Orascom Development (who are using it for El Gouna), Travco Properties (Almaza Bay), SODIC, Emaar, and Smash Sporting Club.

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