For decades, buying properties in Egypt meant navigating a fragmented real estate market, relying on personal networks, dealing with commission drivers and facing developers most focused on selling customers’ needs.
In 2019, Mustafa El Beltaomy co -founded Nawy to bring transparency and market efficiency. Now it was positioned as the largest proptech platform in Africa, Nawy has raised $ 52 million in Funds from Serie A, directed by the Risk Capital firm of Africa, Partch Africa, validating its model or combining the list of properties with brokerage services.
La Ronda, which also includes $ 23 million in the debt financing of the main banks of Egypt, takes the total of $ 75 million, one of the largest series than for an African startup. In 2022, he raised a round of seeds of $ 5 million led by the richest family in Egypt, the Sawiris.
CEO’s journey Beltaomy to Proptech begged personal frustration. After several years working in corporate works in multiple countries, the former Vodafone executive wanted to invest in real estate in Egypt, a market that many people see as a coverage against inflation and the devaluation of the currency.
However, while navigating the process of purchase of properties, the lack of transparency and the prevalence of biased advice became obvious problems.
“He had no way of looking at the market and understanding what there is, apart from going almost developer by the developer, collecting his brochures and asking his vendors, which was very inefficient,” said the CEO. “In this sector, everyone is encouraged to push you in one way or another.”
These challenges led El-Beltagy to build Nawy to help people buy, sell, invest, finance and manage properties. Its model, which combines a properties listing platform with brokerage services, has established it in an industry that is still dominated by agents with rooting and offline relationships. The executive director launched the company with Abdel-Azim Osman, Ahmed Rafaa, Mohamed Abou Ghanima and Aly Rafaa.
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At first, Nawy fought to secure them. The developers were skeptical about Nawy’s value because it was not large enough to bring traffic to their listings. The runners, on the other hand, saw Nawy as a competitor.
To generate trust, Nawy introduced the immediate payments of the commission, financed in advance, to the runners who made their first transaction on the platform. This feeling changed, which led to mouth growth that has seen more than 3,000 stockbrokers actively using Nawy partners (its runners product), accessing the live inventory and flexible payments.
In addition, the Proptech, based in Cairo, attracts approximately one million monthly visitors, with hundreds of developers competing for visibility. Around 150 developers cover the majority of the new construction market of Egypt, which is worth around $ 30 billion, according to 100,000 transactions annually, cord about El Beltaly.
Approximately in recent years, Nawy has expanded beyond the lists and brokerage services, evolving to a complete real estate ecosystem. This includes Nawy’s shares, a fractional property product that allows users to invest in properties with at least $ 500, which makes real estate accessible to the average income population of Egypt, which has been for a long time.
In addition, Nawy has developed a mortgage product, “moving now pays later”, designed to allow users to buy through installment plans and financial options in a market where banks rarely offer loans for real estate purchases.
“The real estate market is very unequal in the sense that most people are buying new construction, not resale. We believe that enabling this product will cause change a bit,” said the Beltagy about the integrated financial product. “It is a mortgage packaged differently because the mortgages are almost non -existent here.” Hello, he added that the debt installation of $ 23 million of Nawy supports this offer.
Immune to economic volatility?
These products have diversified Nawy’s sources of income, which the company claims to have grown more than 50 times in terms of dollars in the last four years, despite the fact that the Egyptian pound loses 69% of its value.
The Belfy attributes much of this growth to the demand of the real estate market as coverage against inflation and the devaluation of the currency. While the monetary crisis affected local demand, the influx of expatriate money helped compensate for the fall.
As a result, the profitable Nawy closed 2024 with more than $ 1.4 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), compared to $ 38 million in 2020.
With fresh capital, Nawy plans to expand beyond Egypt to North Africa and the Middle East, the regions are quickly emerging as some of the most promising real estate markets in the world. Nawy addresses Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as their next markets (in the EAU, for example, platforms such as Hespy and Property Finder already have a strong traction).
The Belfy mentions that the company will buy smaller companies along the way. Recently, it acquired the ROA Property Administration startup and renamed it as “unlocked Nawy”, expanding its Stoft product.
The round of series A, collected in two sections, will finance these plans, including the advancement of products and integration of AI in the Nawy processes, according to the Beltaly.
Other notable investors participating in the round include the NCLUDE Development Fund Partners International, E & Capital, Endeavour Catalyst, Hof Capital, Marche Capital Investments, Atypical Values, Plug and Play, Shorooq Partners, Venturasouq and Verod-Kepple Africa.
“We are excited to support Nawy as they build the bases for modern real estate experience, driven by technology,” said Tidjane Deme, general partner of Partch. “His team has deep ideas of the market, along with ambitious regional expansion plans and exceptional execution, positioning them as the clear proptech champion in Africa and the Middle East.”
