Marie-Therese Fam - Afrikan Heroes

Egypt’s Flat6Labs Closes $13.2m New Fund, Invites Startups To Apply For Seed Funding

May 23, 2021

This year, money is pouring in for Egyptian startups. Flat6Labs, a regional Seed Program and Fund, is the latest to enter the list, of freshly formed funds for entrepreneurs in the North African country, having announced the second closure and increase of its Egypt fund from EGP50 million to EGP207 million ($13.2m) to help Egyptian early-stage entrepreneurs. Flat6Labs has also announced that the cash seed offering for its Cairo Seed Program will be increased to up to EGP1.5 million ($95k), with up to EGP3 million ($190k) in post-program follow-on funding available for selected startups.

*Marie-Therese Fam, Managing Partner at Flat6Labs Egypt*

“I am extremely proud of our fund’s second close and the incredible support we have received from all our investors,” Marie-Therese Fam, Managing Partner at Flat6Labs Egypt, said.

The International Finance Corporation, the MSME Development Agency, the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund, and Egypt Ventures are all current Anchor Investors in the FAC fund, and have all expanded their investments to support more early-stage technology startups in Egypt. The fund’s second close also saw participation from Sawari Ventures. Sawari Ventures is the Fund’s most recent major investor.

Why The Investors Invested In The Latest Fund

“Flat6Labs Egypt plays an integral role at the seed stage within the local and regional ecosystems; successfully providing the foundational support startups need through funding and mentorship, which is appealing for us. At Sawari Ventures, our fund strategy has always been to allocate a percentage of our fund to the seed stage which is a completely different proposition in terms of process, culture, and support needed. As investors in Flat6Labs Accelerator Company, we get the opportunity to profitably participate in Egyptian companies at a very early stage, get early indicators on ecosystem trends, and visibility into the ecosystem,” Wael Amin, Managing Partner at Sawari Ventures, said.

“Flat6Labs is participating in the development of the startup ecosystem in Egypt. We are proud to support them in helping our community embrace the digital economy”, added Ahmed Gomaa, CEO of Egypt Ventures.

Highlighting Flat6Labs’ role in nurturing a promising startup ecosystem and closing the financing gap for entrepreneurs in Egypt, James Harmon, Chairman of the EAEF, said “We believe that startup accelerators are instrumental to building a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, we are proud of Flat6Labs’ efforts and role in building the startup ecosystem in Egypt and will continue to support them as they fill an important financing gap in the market.”

Hany Emad, Head of Central Sector for SME Finance at MSMEDA, added, “We consider Flat6Labs as one of our strategic partners and due to the success achieved during implementing the first close, we decided to increase our commitment to reach EGP 35 million.”

“We are very excited to expand our partnership with Flat6Labs and increase our commitment to up to $2.5 million. We invested in Flat6Labs back in 2017 as part of IFC’s Startup Catalyst program and have since supported its growth and expansion in Egypt and more broadly in the region,” said Walid Labadi, IFC’s country manager for Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.

Flat6Labs Launches New Seed Program For Startups

Applications are now open for Flat6Labs’ Cairo Seed program, apply here.

A Look At What Flat6Labs Does

The Flat6Labs Accelerator Company (FAC) Egypt fund was founded in 2017 with the aim of investing in 100+ creative startups across Egypt over a five-year period, with a focus on tech-enabled solutions. The Flat6Labs Cairo Seed Program has run seven cycles in the last three and a half years, investing in 62 startups, training over 350 entrepreneurs, and creating over 1,000 jobs, with 96 percent of those employed being young people aged 19 to 35. In Egypt, approximately half of Flat6Labs’ portfolio companies have secured follow-on funding totaling EGP145,000,000.

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

A Year After Being Part Of FlatLabs’ Accelerator Programme, Egypt’s Delivery Startup Illa Secures Six-figure Seed Funding

November 6, 2020

It looks like accelerator programmes are a cock-sure way of having access to funds these days. A year after getting validation from Egypt-based accelerator, FlatLabs, Cairo-based logistics startup Illa (ILLA) has secured a six-figure investment (USD) in a seed round from Averroes Venture Capital, AUC Angels, and some local and regional angel investors, with follow-on funding from Flat6Labs Cairo.

*Marie-Therese Fam, Managing Partner of Flat6Labs Cairo*

“While innovating around logistics is challenging, it’s even more so within an ever-growing industry, and that’s why Illa is uniquely poised to capture considerable market share both locally and regionally for their exclusive focus and innovation around FMCG,” said the startup in a statement, adding that it now operates within 24 governorates across Egypt and has delivered 7 million cases so far.

The startup plans to use the latest investment to expand further in Egypt and explore potential regional markets to expand into.

Illa was part of Flat6Labs Cairo’s Spring 2019 cycle.

Why The Investors Invested

The Team

Illa’s co-founder and CEO Mahmoud El-Zomor has previously worked with leading FMCG companies including CocaCola and Clorox and comes from a family that’s “deeply rooted” in the distribution industry. Mahmoud co-founded the startup with his longtime friends Alaa Jarkas, Ahmed Sakr, and Hossam Saraya. Alaa and Ahmed have also worked in the FMCG industry and Hossam comes with the experience of leading engineering teams at tech startups in Egypt and Germany.

“Illa’s exceptional team of diversified backgrounds are surely capable and well equipped in becoming a key player in the future of the logistics technology industry,” said Dr. Ahmed Alsharif, Founding Partner and CEO of Averroes Ventures.

“Their dedication, extensive experience in the logistics & multinational FMCG industries and more importantly their insightful vision were assuring signs of great success ahead. FLat6Labs is reinforcing its belief in Illa and the team by joining the second round of investment in the company, in order for Illa to continue to grow its business operations, to serve new markets/segments, and introduce new technologically-enabled solutions,”Marie-Therese Fam, Managing Partner of Flat6Labs Cairo, said, adding that Illa’s founding team demonstrated from day one [at Flat6Labs Cairo] that they are an A team.

The Business Model

Mariam Kamel from AUC Angels said, “The ailing logistics and delivery sector is at a turning point, with Illa well-positioned due to their solid team, unique market know-how, and the strength of their solution.”

FlatLabs Illa funding FlatLabs Illa funding

A Look At What The Startup Does

Launched in March 2019, Illa offers full-stack delivery solutions to corporates and SMEs operating in the FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) industry. Its services are designed for manufacturers, distributors, hypermarkets, hotels, F&B chains, and many other stakeholders involved in the FMCG industry. Its supply just like any other trucking aggregator comes in form of freelance truck drivers or third-parties but the solutions are strictly focused on FMCG.

Illa’s clients can book its services in a few easy steps by selecting the truck type, filling in pickup and dropoff details (it supports multiple dropoffs too), and adding notes or attachments. Illa then picks up the shipment, transports it at designated locations and receives cash (if any) on behalf of its clients. Its network of trucks with different types and capacities can act as an internal fleet for the FMCG companies, notes its websites. The clients can keep an eye on the deliveries through a dashboard that also comes with different types of analytics and reports.

The startup claims to be already working with some of the biggest names in FMCG industry including CocaCola, P&G, Nestle, and Pepsico as well as leading local entities.