Egypt-based life science startup Nawah Scientific, has raised $1 million in a mix of equity and debt in its second pre-Series A round led by Egypt Ventures, with participation from Alexandria Fund (AF), Cairo Angels, Alex Angels, HULT Alumni Angels along with international angel investors. 

This round brings the startup’s total funding to date to $2 million, making it the most funded life science venture in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Nawah now plans to close its Series A round later in 2021.

The latest investment came on the heels of Nawah’s launch of its new hub of labs, described as “the biggest private multidisciplinary research hub in Egypt”. Previously in 2019, Nawah also won second place and an award of $15,000 at the first edition of Jack Ma's Africa Netpreneur Prize. 

Founded in 2015, Nawah looks to empower scientific research and scientists by enabling them to carry out higher quality research regardless of their location. Through its online platform, Nawah receives experiment requests from scientists. The company then dispatches a courier to them to collect samples for analysis so that Nawah's in-house scientists can carry out the required tests and return the results online.

The company currently operates only in Egypt but caters to clients around the world. So far, it has analysed over 50,000 samples from more than 3000 clients across nine countries, with plans to accelerate its presence in Mena and set a foot in the African market.

“Every day, I realise that Nawah’s potential is way beyond our initial imagination and that we are barely scratching the surface. I’m extremely thankful to the amazing team of scientists who are making this happen,” said Omar Sakr, Nawah’s founder.

The fresh funds will enable Nawah to make inroads into the food, agriculture, and petrochemical industries, and expand to the Saudi market in 2021 Q3, Sakr told Wamda.

Ahmed Gomaa, CEO of Egypt ventures said: “Egypt Ventures has a clear mandate to support exceptional Egyptian Startups bringing actual value to the Egyptian community. We have witnessed Nawah firsthand and we have seen how they deliver on their promise to empower scientific research in the entire Middle East and Africa region and we are thrilled to be part of their journey as they scale their offerings and expand into new markets.”