🇪🇬 Weekly News Digest… The Seed #18
Egyptian startups, the FoodTech industry, and the latest fundraisings…
Hello everyone! We hope you are doing well!
Welcome to your Weekly News Digest! Later this week, you will receive our first "Deep Dive" Newsletter… Be ready!
📅 Today’s program:
Egyptian tech ecosystem are thriving
The FoodTech explosion
Latest fundraisings
Egyptian startups are thriving
Egypt’s startup ecosystem is taking off and is already the most sought-after in the MENA region. It could soon become the most attractive destination for investments in Africa.
🇪🇬 In June, Egyptian startups have almost raised more money in one month than in the whole year of 2020 ($190 million). The Egyptian ecosystem is particularly favorable to e-commerce, EdTech & FinTech startups.
🚛 Within this trend, Trella, a trucking marketplace that connects shippers with carriers, has recently raised $42 million. The startup’s mission is to provide reliable information about shipments, in real-time, in a highly fragmented market.
The FoodTech explosion
With the global lockdown caused by the Covid pandemic, FoodTech and food delivery services have grown exponentially in the past months. How will they survive the progressive reopening of our economies?
🍔 Delivering food from restaurants is only the first step for Uber Eats and DoorDash. Currently losing money, the two giants have identified a new growth opportunity, with higher margins: grocery and alcohol deliveries.
📉 Despite a stronger than expected demand in the past year, none of the delivery giants achieved lasting profitability. In Q1 2021, GrubHub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash all reported millions of dollars of losses.
Latest fundraisings
🔋 Electra, a French micro-mobility startup, just raised $15 million in the biggest seed fundraising to date in France. Electra developed fast-charging stations for electric vehicles, backed by a very smooth user experience.
🚡 WeMaintain, which has designed a solution dedicated to independent lift repair technicians, raised $30 million last week in Series B.
🛩 The American specialist of drone deliveries Zipline has raised $250 million in Series E, to continue its development in the US & Africa, being now valued at over $2.75 billion. The company first launched its drones to deliver medicines in Rwanda.
That's it for the Weekly News Digest! Hope you enjoyed it 🙌
See you later this week for the first "Deep Dive" format, that will be focused on… the Internet!