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Dubai-based company founded by 28-year-old Mostafa Kandil to list on Nasdaq via $1.5bn SPAC deal.
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Swvl signed a merger deal with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, the first special purpose acquisition company led by women.
Swvl, a Dubai-based transport technology start-up, is expected to be the first $1 billion-plus unicorn from the Middle East to list on Nasdaq.
The company has signed a merger deal with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, the first special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by women, that would result in Swvl being listed on Nasdaq, local media reports said.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the combined public company will be named Swvl Holdings Corp.
Swvl is the second company in the Middle East to go public via a SPAC listing after Abu Dhabi-based music streaming platform Anghami announced plans to go public by merging with Vistas Media Acquisition Company earlier this year.
Swvl is believed to have been born in the public parks of Cairo. In 2017, 28-year-old Mostafa Kandil and two of his school friends, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh, after quitting their jobs, spent their time developing a transportation app they named Swvl.
The app initially developed for reducing the chaotic traffic jams in Cairo could book bus trips at rates that are close to 80 per cent cheaper than other ride-hailing services like Careem and Uber.
Two years later, several venture-capital firms helped Swvl raise $42 million to fund its expansion. The company currently operates in 10 cities in Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Kandil, who is also Swvl CEO, said the partnership with Queen’s Gambit will expand the company’s daily commuting offerings and enterprise TaaS services that “remove barriers to seamless mobility for the populations that need it most”.
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum tweeted that “Dubai’s impact on the global start-up scene shows the vision and spirit of the region’s youth in shaping tomorrow’s businesses”.
