Cairo-based proptech startup Nawy has raised $52 million in Series A funding to scale its operations across North Africa and the Middle East, in a bid to bring transparency, accessibility, and innovation to the region’s fragmented real estate market. The round, led by Partech Africa, included $23 million in debt financing from top Egyptian banks and brings Nawy’s total funding to $75 million—making it one of the largest Series A rounds in African startup history.
Founded in 2019 by Mostafa El Beltagy and a team of seasoned co-founders, Nawy is reshaping how Egyptians buy, sell, and invest in property. The company emerged from El Beltagy’s personal frustration with Egypt’s traditional real estate system—rife with biased brokers, opaque pricing, and developer-first practices.
“Everyone is incentivized to push you one way or another,” said El Beltagy. “We wanted to change that”
From Listings to a Real Estate Ecosystem
Nawy began as a digital property listing platform but has evolved into a full-stack real estate ecosystem. Its hybrid model, combining listings with brokerage services, helped it gain traction in an industry historically dominated by offline relationships. The platform now attracts over 1 million monthly users and connects them with more than 3,000 brokerages via its “Nawy Partners” program, which offers live inventory access and instant commissions.
It also offers fractional property ownership through Nawy Shares, enabling users to invest in real estate for as little as $500. This democratizes access to an asset class that was traditionally out of reach for Egypt’s middle class. Another innovation, “Move Now Pay Later,” is a mortgage alternative providing installment-based financing in a country where traditional bank loans for homes are rare.
“Mortgages are almost non-existent here,” said El Beltagy. “So we packaged it differently”
Navigating Economic Turbulence and Rapid Growth
Despite a 69% drop in the Egyptian pound’s value since 2020, Nawy has scaled rapidly. Its gross merchandise value (GMV) jumped from $38 million in 2020 to over $1.4 billion in 2024, supported by strong demand from Egyptians and expats seeking to hedge against inflation via property investments.
With this momentum, Nawy is now preparing for regional expansion into Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, where demand for digital real estate solutions is growing. It has already acquired property management startup ROA—now rebranded as Nawy Unlocked—as part of its push to offer end-to-end services, from buying and investing to managing assets.
AI, M&A, and the Road Ahead
The newly raised capital will support product development, including integrating AI across customer journeys, operations, and data analytics. Nawy also plans to pursue further acquisitions of smaller regional players to accelerate growth.
The round saw participation from a long list of prominent investors, including Nclude Fund, e& Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, HOF Capital, March Capital Investments, Outliers, Plug and Play, Shorooq Partners, VentureSouq, and Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures.
“Nawy is building the foundation for a modern, tech-driven real estate experience,” said Tidjane Deme, general partner at Partech. “They’re clearly positioned as the proptech leader in Africa and the Middle East”
As Nawy enters its next chapter, it aims not only to be a marketplace but a trusted partner for anyone navigating the real estate journey in the MENA region.
