Nawah Scientific begins 2021 with $1 million (€0.82M) in additional funds. The Cairo-based health tech startup has secured a second pre-series A fundraise comprising both equity and debt, it announced in a press statement late on 7 Jan.

Funded primarily by Egypt Ventures, the round also saw contributions from the Alexandria Fund, Cairo Angels, Alex Angels, undisclosed angels from Hult International Business School alumni, and several undisclosed “international angel investors”.

This take’s the company’s total capital raised since establishment to $2 million (€1.6M).

“Every day, I realise that Nawah’s potential is way beyond our initial imagination and that we are barely scratching the surface,” said Nawah Scientific founder, Omar Sakr. “Our work has significantly empowered the scientific society in Egypt, and we are expanding next year to surrounding countries with an aggressive plan to cover MENA and Africa in the foreseeable future. I’m extremely thankful to the amazing team of scientists who are making this happen.”

WHY  IT MATTERS

Founded in 2015, Nawah Scientific’s mission is to enable and promote scientific and medical research in the region by providing its facilities and services to individual scientists and institutions. According to the company, it “provides a multitude of services to the region through an online platform, [as well as] a world-class caliber of scientists, and a strong logistic network.”

Claiming to be the “first, private, multidisciplinary research center in Egypt,” Nawah Scientific elaborates on its website that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region “is full of bright-minded scientists who were just unfortunate to find themselves trapped in labs without sufficient technology to fulfill their research potential.

“Our business model democratises research by enabling scientists, regardless of their location and lab facilities to step in and tackle meaningful research questions.”

In its latest statement, the startup revealed it has analysed over 50,000 samples from more than 3,000 clients in nine countries to date. It claims to be “now an integral part of the pharma industry in Egypt, with hundreds of samples flowing for analysis, routine checks, or formulations requiring improvement by the Nawah pharmaceutical formulation team.”

During 2020, Nawah Scientific developed formulas for skin-friendly sanitisers, which resulted in them being awarded a local grant of $125,000 to develop testing technology for COVID-19. The year before, it won second place at the 2019 Africa’s Business Heroes competition.

ON THE RECORD

“We have witnessed Nawah first-hand, and we have seen how they deliver on their promise to empower scientific research in the entire MEA region,” said Egypt Ventures CEO, Ahmed Gomaa. “We are thrilled to be part of their journey as they scale their offerings and expand into new markets.”

Tarek El Kady, general partner at Alexandria Fund, added: “Nawah is perfectly set to serve a huge market in the Middle East and Africa, and we are happy to have Nawah among our very first investments of our early-stage ventures fund.”