Egypt’s AlMaqarr Secures Investment From Cairo Angels And Alex Angels
As indicated in a statement that was made public yesterday by the Egyptian angel network, Egyptian coworking space, AlMaqarr, has secured investment valued at an undisclosed amount from Cairo Angels. Alex Angels, another Egyptian angels network that came into existence the previous year and is reported to have made a prior investment in Cairo-based logistics startup, VOO, are also said to have participated in the round.
AlMaqarr is a coworking space that was founded by the trio of Muhammed Nagi, Sherif Ashraf, and Abdelqader Khaled back in October 2012. The startup is known to currently operate coworking spaces in three locations in Egypt, namely; Heliopolis, Downtown, and El-Gouna.
On the backs of the development, AlMaqarr can be considered to be in a good position to expand to new locations, enhance its operations, and flood its catalog with a number of products and services that are tailored to meet the needs of its clientele.
“We didn’t only need a financial boost, but rather a backbone; true believers who can mentor, guide, and direct,” Muhammad Nagi, Co-Founder of AlMaqarr, is quoted as saying with respect to the investment. He further stated; “ Cairo Angels believes in what we do and they see the potential of our business the same way we do. This is the core asset of our partnership.”
This investment could be thought to represent something of a first as it is the first investment of Cairo Angels in this sector, and only its third in the current year. According to Aly El Shalakany, Chairman of Cairo Angels, the investment may have been motivated by a need to support AlMaqarr in its bid to provide adequate infrastructural support for startups, entrepreneurs, freelancers, creatives, and SMEs, which by the Cairo Angels Chair’s reckoning, still poses a problem and is an albatross to the growth of the ecosystem.
Cairo Angels is considered one of the first formal network of angel investors in Egypt. It also boasts a presence in the startup ecosystems of Europe and the Gulf. It appears this may be the first time an investment of this kind is coming in for a startup of this nature in North Africa, which by itself, could be considered a remarkable feat especially on account of the unwillingness of a number of investors to venture into startups of this nature; a posture that is mostly borne out of scalability concerns.
As at the time of putting this piece together, WeeTracker awaits a response from the startup’s founders on questions bordering on the actual amount of funding received and equity agreements.
This development was first reported by StartupSceneME
Image Source: CoworkingMap
