The Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund Backs Nawah Scientific
The Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF) announces its second investment which was a success story from the Cairo Angels Network portfolio, the Life Sciences and Biotechnology startup Nawah Scientific.
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The Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF), a micro venture capital fund that invests in early-stage startups in the Middle East and Africa, has announced its second investment backing the Life Sciences and Biotechnology startup Nawah Scientific in a dedicated round for CASF. Founded by Dr. Omar Sakr, Nawah Scientific is a core hub of advanced research equipment specialized in natural and medical sciences that offers its services online and on-demand. During 6 years of operations, Nawah has analyzed over 200K samples from 12 countries.
The drop in Early-Stage funding rounds remains an alarming phenomenon across MENA and Emerging Venture Markets. As recorded in our State of Startup Funding- 2022 Emerging Venture Markets Free Report, a 3-year consecutive slump in Early Stage Deal (<$500K) share of total transactions in MENA recorded an all-time low in 2021, dropping below the 50% mark. This remains alarming especially in nascent ecosystems like Pakistan, where Early-Stage deals accounted for less than 30% of all transactions throughout 2021. Egypt on the other hand has been one of the few countries that are considered exemplary in their Early & Later stage pipeline balance. As Major funding rounds were recorded in our Egypt 2022 Venture Investment Report including $120M backing Halan, $55M backing MaxAB, and $33M backing Capiter, Egypt was still one of the few geographies to observe a YoY growth in Early-Stage Deal share. Early-stage deals are critical for the continuous deal flow in the VC ecosystem as well as the introduction of new Tech innovations across industries. A quick look at the Early-Stage funding rounds closed in Egypt 2021, one can find a plethora of promising ventures including blockchain-powered communication platform Pravica, InsurTech solutions with Amenli, digital health consultation with Estshara, and even cloud-based lead management system solutions with Flash Lead.
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As one of the leading pharmaceutical formulation and analysis centers in Egypt, Nawah’s business model is revolutionizing the scientific research ecosystem allowing scientists to carry out world-class level research regardless of the equipment available in their labs. "We had the honor of having individual angel investors from the Cairo Angel Network as early investors. They came in when we needed them the most, provided us with capital, networking, support, and most importantly - with faith in what we are building. Now, Cairo Angels come with their Syndicate Fund to double down on the success we have built together, and I'm very excited about what is yet to come" stated Dr. Omar Sakr, Founder and CEO of Nawah.
This round of fundraising is geared towards helping the startup maintain its compelling growth and onboarding new projects. In light of this recent dedicated investment, given that The Cairo Angels network first invested in Nawah Scientific in 2020, CEO of the Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund Aly El Shalakany concluded, "Dr. Omar is a perfect example of what I call ‘brain regain’; a super talented and ambitious founder who, if truth be told, we would have lost in previous years to North America or Europe, were it not for the recent changes that have made it possible for entrepreneurs to succeed at home. Not only has Dr. Omar built an amazing, globally competitive and impactful business, but he has created a virtuous cycle for top scientists from Egypt to also succeed at home. We are immensely proud that we can continue to support Nawah Scientific in its mission.”
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