EGYPT – Boyot, a startup that provides an end-to-end operating system for payments and financial services focusing solely on the real estate industry, has raised a six-figure pre-Seed round led by a Kuwait-based real estate firm, as it prepares to open an office in Kuwait later in the year.
The startup plans to use the fresh money to increase its client base, hire across tech and business, and invest in product technology.
Founded in 2020 by Mahmoud El Sabongy (CEO) and Khaled El Refaay (CTO) and Mohamed Sayed, Boyot enables real estate firms to digitise their entire payment operations, allowing them to track the status of their customer payment from the moment it is scheduled ultimately through to settlement.
Moreover, companies can leverage the existing application programming interface (APIs) to provide and launch financial products such as buy now and pay later (BNPL).
“Poor cash flow management is one of the key challenges hurdling the growth of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) operating in the local real estate market in Egypt,” said ElSabongy.
“About 85 per cent of merchants don’t get their receivables through cheques. Instead, they either send out agents to perform cash transactions or get the payment through a bank transfer. Irregular cash collection methods ultimately translate into lower margins.
“As merchants scale, the payment collection process becomes more and more complicated and far from straightforward, leaving businesses struggling with inconsistent gains.”
The startup officially commenced commercial operations back in May. Shortly after, it onboarded Misr Asset Management Company, the real estate arm of Misr Insurance Company, as its first corporate client.
According to ElSabongy, the startup plans to expand its client base, hire across tech and business as well as invest in its product technology.
The SaaS market has witnessed an upswing over the past few years, as digitisation continues to gain ground among traditional sectors.
Of 3 billion raised by startups in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) last year, SaaS startups scooped a total of US$176.35m across 31 deals.
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