Egypt ’s startups are starting this year on a good note. Cairo-based transportation startup Halan has raised $15 million in a Series B round. According to Mounir Nakhla, the co-founder and CEO of Halan, the Egyptian startup “has raised just shy of $20 million” to date. 

Here Is The Deal

• This round of funding includes Dubai-based Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) as one of the investors. Venture Partners did not participate in Halan’s seed or Series A but have listed the company in its portfolio on their website which confirms their participation in the Series B. 
• It is however, not clear if any of the previous investors (which includes Battery Road Digital Holdings, Algebra Ventures and Uber’s founding CTO Oscar Salazar) joined the Series B.
• Halan had announced raising this Series A in December 2018 without disclosing its exact size. The startup also disclosed in a SEC filing that it had raised $4.3 million in this round. Also raised by the startup includes a $525,000 a seed round before their Series A, from Battery Road Digital Holdings.
•  At $15 million, it is one of the largest rounds ever raised by an Egyptian startup and with $20 million raised to date, Halan is now the third best-funded Egyptian startup, behind Swvl and Vezeeta.

A Look At What The Startup Does

• Founded in 2017 by Mounir Nakhla together with Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga (who joined ten months later as a co-founder), Halan provides on-demand transportation with two-wheelers (motorcycles) and three-wheelers (tuk-tuks) to the under-served population that is normally not catered by the existing tech-driven transportation services in the market. 
• But it has since expanded into different other categories including logistics and ecommerce, and now aims to become the pan-African super app for people in under-served communities.
• Read also:How Egypt ’s Laws Encourage Local Startup Growth 

“We’re not only a ride-hailing app—it’s a big part of our business, but we also have ecommerce; we provide services to businesses including logistics and deliveries,” said company’s CEO in his interview with Wired.

• Halan currently operates in Egypt and Sudan and has announced its plans to expand to Ethiopia. The startup since expanding into logistics has also signed fast-food chains like KFC and McDonald’s, offering last-mile delivery solutions to them. It has been experimenting with selling a few products (occasionally) on its mobile app.
• The Cairo-based startup had reportedly completed 10 million rides and deliveries in December 2018 and claims to be doing a few million rides every month now. The CEO also said that their ride-hailing revenues have grown 55 percent since the start of 2019.
• He explained that there are no tech-based competitors providing services to their target market, “We’re really competing with the local tuk-tuk drivers and the local stores that sell products. We want to be present in every village in the country.”
• Halan’s CEO said that the startup expects to break even in 2024 with the focus on sustainable growth for now, 

“Our unit economics have been improving dramatically since the start of 2019. Profitability is a key target in our strategy—it’s just not an immediate one,” he said. 

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