Egypt’s proptech Nawy secures record $75 million in Series A funding to expand into MENA

Nawy, Egypt’s pioneering proptech startup, has raised a record $75 million in a Series A funding round, combining $52 million in equity and $23 million in debt financing from Egypt’s top banks. Led by Africa-focused venture capital firm Partech Africa, this round marks one of the largest Series A raises for an African startup and sets a record in the continent’s proptech sector.

The funding validates Nawy’s innovative model of integrating property listings with broking services, positioning it as Africa’s largest proptech platform, and will aid it to expand into the Middle East and the North African (MENA) region.

The round, raised in two tranches, attracted a robust lineup of investors, including Development Partners International’s Nclude Fund, e& Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, HOF Capital, March Capital Investments, Outliers, Plug and Play, Shorooq Partners, VentureSouq, and Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures. 

Commenting on the round, Tidjane Deme, General Partner at Partech Africa, praised Nawy’s vision, saying, “We are excited to support Nawy as they build the foundation for a modern, tech-driven real estate experience. Their team has profound market insights, coupled with ambitious regional expansion plans and exceptional execution, positioning them as the clear proptech champion in Africa and the Middle East.”

With the fresh capital, the startup plans to expand into the Middle East and North Africa, targeting high-growth markets like Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, where platforms like Huspy and Property Finder have gained traction. The company aims to acquire smaller firms, enhance product development, and integrate artificial intelligence across its processes to further streamline operations.

Meet Nawy, one of Africa’s leading proptech startups

Founded in 2019 by Mostafa El Beltagy, Abdel-Azim Osman, Ahmed Rafea, Mohamed Abou Ghanima, and Aly Rafea, Nawy was born out of El Beltagy’s personal frustration with Egypt’s fragmented real estate market. A former Vodafone executive, El Beltagy, encountered inefficiencies and a lack of transparency while attempting to invest in property, relying on biased advice and navigating a maze of developers and brokers. 

“I had no way to look at the market and understand what’s out there, aside from going almost developer by developer, picking up their brochures and asking their salespeople questions, which was highly inefficient,” El Beltagy explained. This experience inspired Nawy’s mission to bring transparency, efficiency, and accessibility to real estate transactions.

Nawy’s platform combines a comprehensive property listing database with tech-enabled brokerage services, offering a seamless experience for buying, selling, financing, and managing properties.

Initially, the startup faced challenges in securing developer listings and gaining broker trust, as developers doubted Nawy’s ability to drive traffic, and brokers viewed it as a competitor. To overcome this, Nawy introduced immediate commission payments, funded upfront, for brokers completing their first transaction on the platform. This strategy fuelled word-of-mouth growth, with over 3,000 brokerages now actively using Nawy Partners, a B2B product providing access to live inventory and flexible payouts.

The platform also attracts over one million monthly visitors, with about 150 developers competing for visibility in Egypt’s $30 billion new-build market, which sees around 100,000 transactions annually.

The company has evolved into a full-stack real estate ecosystem, diversifying beyond listings and brokerage. Its innovative products include Nawy Shares, a fractional ownership model allowing investments starting at $500, making real estate accessible to Egypt’s middle-income population, and Nawy Now, a “Move Now, Pay Later” mortgage product offering instalment plans in a market where traditional bank loans for real estate are scarce.

“The real estate market is very lopsided in the sense that most people are buying new builds, not resales. We believe enabling this product will cause a bit of a shift,” El Beltagy said, noting that the $23 million debt facility supports this offering.

Nawy recently acquired property management startup ROA, rebranding it as Nawy Unlocked, which transforms underutilised properties into income-generating assets through renovation and rental management services.

Despite Egypt’s economic challenges, including a 69% devaluation of the Egyptian pound, Nawy has demonstrated remarkable resilience. The company claims its revenue streams have grown over 50x in dollar terms over the past four years, driven by real estate’s role as a hedge against inflation and currency devaluation.

In 2024, Nawy reported a gross merchandise value (GMV) of over $1.4 billion, a significant leap from $38 million in 2020, and achieved profitability.

Nawy’s new round builds on previous success, including a $5 million seed round in 2022 led by the Sawiris family office, Egypt’s wealthiest family. The startup’s record-breaking Series A not only underscores its dominance in Africa’s proptech sector but also signals growing investor confidence in Egypt’s tech ecosystem, which saw a 48% year-on-year increase in equity deal count in 2024, according to Partech Africa’s 2024 Tech Venture Capital Report.