Venture capital funding in Egypt-based startups reached $491 million in 2021 compared to $191 million in the previous year, recording a CAGR of 117 percent between 2017 and 2021, according to a report by Magnitt.

The number of deals has also jumped from 114 in 2020 to 147 in 2021 marking a 26 percent y-o-y increase, the startup data platform said in the report.

The average funding round size rose from $1.5 million in 2020 to $3.3 million in 2021, while the average Series A recorded a remarkable rate growth rate by jumping from $4.9 million to $21.4 million.

The 2021 remarkable growth was led by the $120 million mega-deal closed by the transport and logistics startup Halan, said the report. The round was led by major global and regional growth investors including Apis Growth Fund II, Development Partners International (DPI), and Lorax Capital Partners.

Nearly 42 percent of the total funding has gone to the transport, logistics and e-commerce industries, according to the report. Besides Halan’s deal, the B2B marketplace MaxAB with harnesses technology to connect small retailers with FMCG companies raised $55 million in June. Around the same time, Freight marketplace Trella raised $ 30 million.

Meanwhile, the highest number of transactions have gone to the fintech industry, which accounted for 17 percent of total deals closed, the report noted.

Egypt was ranked first in Africa in terms of the number of deals, with Egyptian startups closing 25 percent of the total transactions on the continent.

However, the country came third in terms of total amount of funding after Nigeria and South Africa, each attracting $1,085 billion and $652 million, respectively.

In comparison to other MENA countries, Egypt maintained its 2020 second rank after the United Arab Emirates in terms of the number of deals.

(Writing by Noha El Hennawy, editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com