Real Estate platform Sakneen raises $1.1M in Seed funding
Sakneen, the Egypt-based online portal that helps homebuyers search for properties, has raised $1.1M in a Seed funding round, led by Algebra Ventures with participation from Sarwa Capital and Foundation Ventures.
Connect with Sakneen on their MAGNiTT profile
Others who invested in the round were Hem+Spire - a US-based real estate private equity firm, Nakhla VC - a Saudi-based fund, and a number of angel investors from Google, BlackRock, and McKinsey among others.
Sakneen was founded in late 2019 by Ramy Khorshed and Hussein El Kheshen who had a vision of making the struggle of buying a home an easier and more enjoyable experience. The startup believes that as the real estate industry continues to develop, home buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to make one of the most important investment decisions of their lives due to the ever-increasing choices and possibilities.
In August 2020, the startup graduated from the Y Combinator program and in November, announced a strategic partnership with Coldwell Banker Egypt, the largest real estate brokerage firm in the country, to develop unique digital capabilities and offerings for both sellers and buyers.
Ramy Khorshed, CEO & Co-Founder of Sakneen commented on the round, "With the latest strategic investment from Sarwa Capital, the publicly listed financing group behind Contact Cars & Contact Financing, we have firm backing by industry leaders and are well-positioned to launch products across different vertical and delight our customers with new and unique experiences.
"It's a multi-billion-dollar opportunity in a region with strong demographics and growth. Also, the very low technology penetration and lack of publicly accessible data create a huge information asymmetry. Early adopters of data-driven tools have a tremendous opportunity and I think that's what our backers are excited to help us deliver on."
Hussein El Kheshen CTO and Co-Founder of Sakneen said, “Our incredible tech team are actively working on several new features that will be launched over the next few weeks, in addition to a couple of completely new products we're excited to release shortly afterward."
Omar Khashaba, Principal at Algebra Ventures added, “Sakneen brings unique efficiencies to the real estate market, which despite heavy VC funding, hasn't seen enough disruption. Trying to find a home online today is often a frustrating experience, plagued by inaccurate listings and overzealous brokers. We believe Sakneen can meaningfully differentiate itself by re-inventing the search experience and managing the supply side in novel ways. Ramy and Hussein are both world-class founders with the right skill sets and domain expertise. We're very excited to be part of their journey."
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