Bekia Raises USD 765 K To Scale Egypt's Recycling Technology

Bekia, an Egyptian waste-management startup founded in 2019, has closed a USD 765,000 seed round to scale its recycling technology and bring its first B2B software product to market. The Cairo-based company — launched by Cairo University computer science graduate Alaa Afifi — said the round was led by Madica, with follow-on investment from Catalyst Fund and participation from Jambaar Capital.

"Bekia says it has diverted more than 25,000 tonnes of waste from landfill, served over 100,000 customers, and created earning opportunities for more than 2,400 people," the company reported, underscoring the operational footprint it has built since inception.

How Bekia operates

Bekia runs a digital platform designed to connect households and businesses with waste collectors, record collection transactions, and link recyclable materials to industrial buyers. The startup combines on-the-ground collection networks with software that tracks materials and transaction records, positioning itself at the intersection of last-mile logistics and materials supply for recycling industries.

• Founding year and founder: 2019, Alaa Afifi (Cairo University, computer science)
• Headquarters: Cairo, Egypt
• Seed funding: USD 765,000
• Lead investor: Madica
• Follow-on investor: Catalyst Fund; participant: Jambaar Capital
• Impact to date: 25,000+ tonnes diverted, 100,000+ customers served, 2,400+ people with earning opportunities

Context and strategy

The new capital will be deployed to expand Bekia’s engineering team and to accelerate product development. A key milestone on the roadmap is the October launch of Bekia Next, the company’s first B2B software offering. Bekia Next is intended to extend the startup’s existing marketplace and collection operations into enterprise-facing services, enabling industrial buyers and larger waste generators to integrate more directly with Bekia’s tracking and supply systems.

Beyond product development, Bekia plans to use the funding to pilot its model in a second African market. The company’s stated impact metrics — more than 25,000 tonnes diverted from landfill and a customer base exceeding 100,000 — provide a baseline for measuring progress as it tests cross-border expansion and commercialisation of its software stack.

Outlook

With seed backing from regional and sector-focused investors, Bekia’s immediate priorities are engineering hires, the Bekia Next rollout in October, and market testing outside Egypt. If successful, the B2B product could create new revenue streams by monetising transaction data and supply relationships with industrial recyclers, while scaling the company’s role in diverting recyclable materials from landfill.

Bekia’s seed round and planned product launch mark a shift from a largely operations-led model toward a technology-first proposition aimed at institutional customers and buyers — a move that will determine how rapidly the startup can replicate its Cairo operations across additional African markets.