Cairo-based Sylndr has raised $15.7 million to expand beyond selling used cars online to car finance, services and dealer tools. Development Partners International’s NCLUDE fund led the round.
The company, which operates in Egypt’s fast-growing but no-weight loss vehicle market, said the latest round includes both fresh equity and previously unreleased seed finance.
Sylndr also raised nearly $10 million in debt financing from local banks over the past year, bringing its total since launch to more than $30 million. Sylndr raised a $12.6 million seed round in 2022. This is the largest variety in Africa.
Omar El Defrawy, a former executive at local food discovery platform Elmenus, founded the second-hand car platform in 2021, initially focusing on buying used cars directly from consumers, renovating them and reselling them with warranty and money-back guarantees.
It has since evolved into a broader mobility platform that provides markets for digital car loans, auto services and third-party dealers.
“When we started our business, we were primarily focused on consumer issues related to buying and selling cars,” CEO El Defrawy said in an interview with TechCrunch. “And when we start expanding that business, it becomes very clear that the market is much bigger than that, and we need to build other engaging businesses that integrate with what we’re doing by creating value for our customers.”
Egypt has over 6 million cars on the road. With currency devaluation and rising prices for new imports, demand for used cars is rising. In 2021, the government banned the import of used cars, forced the market to be completely dependent on domestic inventory, and promoted prices to reflect exchange rates.
As a result, used Egyptian cars outperform new vehicles at 3:1, while being sold primarily on unregulated dealers or classified websites.
Sylndr sees the opportunity in that mess. It estimates a $10 billion market by formalizing processes regarding inspection, standardized pricing, digital finance, and protecting ownership transfers.
The average selling price for Sylndr’s platform is between $20,000 and $25,000, said El Defrawy. He explained that the number has remained stable on dollar terms over the past three years, despite the Egyptian pound losing more than half its value. This is because used Egyptian car prices are being sold as well as new imported cars.
Sylndr refused to share revenue or trading volumes, but said it had grown nearly 10 times since 2022. During that period, Egyptian pound revenues rose 22 times, and five times higher if the CEO who previously led financial operations at Food Discovery Elmenus was adjusted.
Digitalization of the Egyptian automotive market
To expand three new vertically beyond Sylndr’s car sales is to reduce our dependence on inventory and capital.
We have Sylndr Swift, a digital automotive finance product that connects buyers with banks and underwriters. According to El Defrawy, the platform will provide funding approval within 10 minutes. Sylndr is not lending it from its own balance sheet, he added.
In addition to Swift, Sylndr recently introduced the Sylndr Plus. It provides inspection, maintenance and services for vehicles sold on the platform. The third vertical, Al-Ajans, is a dealer-to-consumer market, allowing third-party dealers to list and sell cars using Sylndr handling inspections, transfer of ownership and payments.
Each vertical runs under its own brand name, but Sylndr has integrated them all into one mobile app. It creates a one-stop shop for purchasing, financing and managing car ownership. “We have fully integrated these services to help our customers buy, sell, lend, rent and provide cars, helping dealers operate and digitize them more efficiently.”
The company’s revenues are now evenly split between consumer sales and B2B transactions with dealers, he added. However, he hopes that new funding and service verticals will contribute up to 60% of total profit within two years.
Sylndr currently works with over 1,000 dealers nationwide, serving both buyers and sellers through online and offline channels. While other regional players such as ContactCars, Olx and Nigeria-based Autochek, powered by Autotager, which invaded Egypt in 2023, have similar products, El Defrawy says they don’t see it as close competition in terms of providing end-to-end solutions to buyers and dealers across the value chain.
Sylndr inspections, renovations and bank partnership infrastructure makes it difficult for external players to replicate the model.
So unlike other Egyptian startups that have traditionally used the home market as their origins to the Gulf, Sylndr plans to deepen its presence in Egypt.
“Sylndr is building a digital backbone of mobility in a market where access, trust and financing were barriers to ownership. Their integrated model will gather commerce, credit and technology to fundamentally improve the way Egyptians buy and sell cars.
This marks the third transaction announced by a London-based VC company that was recently launched in the past month, following investments in Egypt’s digital savings and credit platforms MoneyFellows and Proptech Startup Nawy.
Other VC companies participated in the round, including Algebra Ventures, Nuwa Capital, Raed Ventures, Egyptian Gulf Holding, Uncovered Fund, Beltone Venture Capital and Camel Ventures.