Nawy, a Cairo-based property technology (PropTech) startup, has raised an oversubscribed seven-figure seed round led by the Sawiris family office.
Also participating in the investment round was a roster of notable angels, including Hatem Dowidar, a renowned telecom leader and angel investor.
Founded in 2016 as “Cooing”, the company has since re-branded to Nawy, providing a holistic real estate end-to-end platform that enables users to browse thousands of properties and guides them to find their future home.
The company was founded by: Mohamed Abou Ghanima; Abdel-Azim Osman; Ahmed Rafea; Aly Rafea; and Mostafa El Beltagy, who has since left his role as Vodafone Romania’s CCO to lead Nawy as its CEO.
Currently working out of two offices in New Cairo and 6th of October City, Nawy plans to funnel this recent investment into bolstering their technology, diversify their model to include a wider array of services, and expand their team to serve more areas across Egypt.
In a little over five years, Nawy has served over 30,000 individuals on their quest to find their perfectly matched property. It has sold billions of Egyptian pounds in GMV, and, despite a turbulent year in real estate, the startup remains on a steady pace to reach 300% growth in 2021.
Nawy facilitates a user’s journey by allowing them to run elaborate searches, with customisable criteria such as unit space, price, location, and much more. Users can also cast a wider net and filter down from there.
This feature provides users with full autonomy over their real estate decisions, as opposed to more traditional methods that involve multiple parties and less-informed decisions. This centralisation and fully-integrated model renders a hand-off between an online platform and brokerage obsolete, ushering in a more efficient, user-friendly approach.
Once customers feel confident in fulfilling a purchase, Nawy’s brokerage arm provides a seamless transaction process using the expertise of veteran agents and consultants, at no additional cost.
When asked about the vision and purpose of the company, El Beltagy said, “There’s a considerable chunk of time lost from a homebuyer’s end due to the lack of information and transparency, which breeds anxiety within customers.”
“Even more traditional methods, such as push sales from cold calling, are leaving customers more sceptical than ever,” he added, “Nawy is vying to become the leading real estate search engine and platform equipping customers with all the information and insight they need to select a home in Egypt’s top gated communities.”
El Beltagy noted that this is enabled by the company’s fully integrated model, which includes the strongest client service/sales team aiming to serve the customer’s needs. He highlighted the in-house technology, and seasoned experts and consultants in the real estate domain.
Onsi Sawiris, who leads the Sawiris Family Office, added, “Within the realms of PropTech, there’s a breakneck speed of evolution in service offerings, and how to better offer a fully-integrated model that can be executed in Egypt.”
He added that Nawy has paved the way for it to be manifested and realised, adding that Nawy has checked all the quintessential boxes from acquiring the right team and talent to ensuring their backend is a truly inventive one that is able to deliver a seamless and transparent homebuyer’s journey.