Egyptian startups Pylon, Sprints, Rology get funding; Gallop Express, PIE ink M&As

Egypt-based infrastructure management platform Pylon has raised $19 million in a seed funding round comprising equity and debt, led by Endure Capital.

Cathexis Ventures, Khwarizmi Ventures, LoftyInc Ventures and angel investors also joined the round.

Pylon was founded in 2017 by Ahmed Ashour and Omar Mohamed Radi. It says it seeks to democratise smart grid infrastructure to energy and water distribution companies in emerging markets enabling them to reduce losses and capture uncollected revenue.

The investment will accelerate Pylon’s growth into emerging markets of Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and advance its engineering and product development.

The startup says it is working with multiple companies across two continents that have deployed more than one million endpoints of Pylon’s smart grid technology, across 15 distribution companies. Pylon’s goal is to increase its smart metering points to three million by 2023.

Sprints

Cairo-based edtech firm Sprints has secured $1.2 million in a seed funding round led by the Alexandria Angels Network.

Members of MED Angels and AUC Angels also joined the round, as did Cubit Ventures, Challenge Fund, EdVentures, Falak Startups and Cairo Angels.

Founded in 2019 by Ayman Bazraa and Bassam Sharkawy, Sprints provides users with customised courses for a career in the software sector in the Middle East and Africa region.

Ayman Bazaraa, co-founder and CEO of Sprints, said the firm aims to upskill 1 million youth over the next three years.

Rology

Rology, an Egypt-origin on-demand teleradiology platform, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A funding round from Egypt Ventures and Sequence Ventures from Egypt, Waseel and Tawaref from Saudi Arabia, and Viktoria Ventures from Kenya.

The firm’s previous investors include HIM Angels, AAIC, DAI and Cubit Ventures.

The company, which was launched in 2017, said it will use the money to expand in the Middle East and Africa.

Amr AboDraiaa, co-founder and CEO of Rology, said the firm is developing the platform to serve a large number of hospitals and radiology centres either in cities or rural areas and to boost radiologists’ productivity through AI tools.

PIE

Egypt-based mergers and acquisitions advisory firm PIE has acquired Exits, a regional online marketplace for buying and selling websites, apps, and traditional businesses, for an undisclosed amount.

Founded recently by Mohamed Aboulnaga, PIE is a firm focused on mergers and acquisitions for startups and SMEs.

Exits is a Cairo-based mediator for companies that connect buyers and sellers anonymously, with the option of reviewing key metrics to find the right fit.

Gallop Express

Saudi Arabian logistics company GLT Express has acquired Gallop Express, an Egyptian logistics startup, for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2016 by Alzamil, GLT Express is the logistics arm of Global Logistics and Technology (GLT) Holdings that provides logistics solutions, including fulfilment, last-mile delivery, freight, and global address.

The acquisition of Gallop is part of GLT’s plans to expand its operations beyond the GCC countries and into more countries in the MENA region.