RIYADH: Four Egypt-based startups and two from Morocco have raised seed funding led by Y Combinator as part of its summer 2021 cohort, MAGNiTT reported.
Twice a year, Y Combinator invites startups to apply for funding and networking support. This summer’s batch included 377 startups from 47 countries, including a record 15 from Africa.
Nigeria provided the most, with five startups, followed by Egypt with four, Morocco with two, and Kenya, Ghana, Zambia and South Africa each with one.
This summer’s successful MENA companies include Egypt-based Odiggo, which raised $2.2 million for its marketplace that connects car owners with service providers. As well as Y Combinator, contributors to the round included 500 Startups, Plug and Play Ventures, Seedra Ventures, LoftyInc. Capital and Essa Al-Saleh, CEO of Volta Trucks.
Y Combinator acquired 7 percent of Morocco-based B2B marketplace Chari for an undisclosed sum in July this year.
Other MENA start-ups that raised money from Y Combinator include Cairo-based last-mile delivery company ShipBlu, which raised a pre-seed round led by Nama Ventures, online marketplace Amenli and Morroco-based software-as-a-service value chain platform Freterium.
Egypt-based Pylon, which sells an infrastructure management software solution for water and electricity companies, raised $125,000 in seed funding.
