Egypt’s Nawy, the largest proptech in Africa, raises $52M to take on MENA

Navigating the fragmented real estate market in Egypt has long been a challenge, with personal networks, commission-driven brokers, and developers more focused on sales than customer service.

In 2019, Mostafa El Beltagy co-founded Nawy to revolutionize the market with transparency and efficiency. Now Africa’s largest proptech platform, Nawy has secured $52 million in Series A funding, led by Partech Africa, showcasing its model of merging property listings with brokerage services.

This round, combined with $23 million in debt financing from Egypt’s top banks, totals $75 million, making it one of the largest Series A rounds for an African startup. In 2022, Nawy raised a $5 million seed round led by Egypt’s Sawiris family.

CEO El Beltagy’s journey into proptech began from personal frustration with the lack of transparency and biased advice in the real estate market. This led to the creation of Nawy, aiming to assist people in buying, selling, investing in, financing, and managing property.

Nawy struggled initially to secure listings but gained trust by offering immediate commission payments to brokers. This led to rapid growth, with over 3,000 brokerages using Nawy Partners and over a million monthly visitors to the platform.

Expanding beyond listings and brokerage, Nawy now offers services like fractional ownership through Nawy Shares and a mortgage product called “Move Now Pay Later.” These initiatives aim to make real estate more accessible to Egypt’s middle-income population.

Despite economic volatility and currency devaluation, Nawy’s revenue has grown significantly. The company closed 2024 with over $1.4 billion in gross merchandise value, up from $38 million in 2020.

With plans to expand into North Africa and the Middle East, Nawy aims to target markets like Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Recent acquisitions, such as property management startup ROA, have expanded Nawy’s product offerings.

The Series A funding will support Nawy’s expansion plans, product development, and integration of AI across its processes. Notable investors in the round include Development Partners International, e& Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst.

Tidjane Deme, general partner at Partech, expressed excitement about supporting Nawy’s growth, highlighting the company’s market insights, regional expansion plans, and exceptional execution in the proptech space.