Halan, an Egyptian ride-hailing startup, announced its Series A at the beginning of the month. The funding came from the existing backer, Battery Road Digital Holdings. As well as one of Egypt’s leading VCs, AlgebraVentures. But, startup declined to disclose the actual amount referring to it as 'multi-million'.
Yet, filings by Halan to the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal the amount.
Mounir Nakhla, Halan's co-founder and CEO, made the filing in September this year. The startup was looking to raise $4,384,559 but managed $4,364,559 - leaving a $20,000 deficit.
Though, this wasn't their first to file with the SEC. In November 2017, the ride-hailing startup filed after raising $525,000 of the $550,000 they wanted. The form was also filed by Mounir Nakhla. Battery Road Digital Holdings participated in this particular round.
To-date, Halan has raised two Series - Series Seed and Series A - bringing their total funding to at least $4.9 million.
Launched in 2017, they offer ride-hailing and on-demand logistics solutions. The startup focuses on what they call the 'under-served population'. That is people not catered for by the existing tech-driven transportation services.
According to MENAbytes, Mounir Nakhla and Ahmed Mohsen co-founded Halan. Though Careem’s former regional director Mohamed Aboulnaga joined them ten months later. He came on board both as a co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer.
Their executive team also includes Dina Ghabbour. He was with Ghabbour Auto, one of Egypt’s largest automotive companies. He now serves as Halan's Chief Marketing Officer.
The startup's fleet consists of two-wheelers (motorcycles) and three-wheelers, known as Tuk Tuk. Their services are currently available across Egypt only. These include ride-hailing through motorcycles and Tuk Tuks.
"Halan also offers on-demand delivery solutions including business to business and business to customer deliveries through motorcycles and tricycles."
Egypt is becoming a key market for major and upcoming ride-hailing companies. In less than a month ago, both Uber and Careem launched their bus services. These are coming to a market where Swvl - that has raised over $8 million this year, part of which came from Careem - is the incumbent. The other notable bus-hailing startup in Egypt is Buseet which is a 'premium bus sharing platform'.