Egyptian online remarketer Sylndr raises $12.6m

Egyptian online used-car retailer Sylndr has raised $12.6 million in its first funding round. The funding was led by Saudi venture capital firm Raed Ventures, but also included investors from Egypt itself, Dubai, Germany and the U.S. 

Sylndr, which plans to launch its BC2 platform late this year or early next, wants to disrupt the experience of buying a car in Egypt. “This is a business that is going to impact millions of Egyptians,” said Omar El Defrawy, the company’s co-founder and CEO. 

Egypt has a total fleet of around five million private cars. Each year, around 250,000 new cars are sold in the country. Because most people can’t afford these, the second-hand market is three times larger – around 750,000 sold each year (i.e. more than 2,000 every day), representing a market value of around $14 billion. 

However, the Egyptian used-car market is highly fragmented (with over 18,000 car dealerships, and no dealer group capturing more than 1% of the market), and lacking in transparency and trust. Sylndr aims to fill that gap – in fact, it is already live as a B2B channel, selling to wholesalers and dealers. 

The consumer platform will follow, as mentioned late this year, or beginning the next. It will allow customers to buy, sell, trade in, finance and refurbish used cars in a transparent manner. Only up to 5% of Egypt’s used car purchases are financed, offering the opportunity to cross-sell financial services and insurances.
 

Image: Cairo traffic jam (Shutterstock)