Egyptian waste management startup Bekia has raised $765,000 in seed funding to expand its digital waste collection platform, strengthen its consumer app and launch a new software product for businesses.
The funding will support Bekia’s efforts to bring more transparency to Egypt’s fragmented recycling sector. The company also plans to grow its engineering team, launch Bekia Next and test its model in a second African market.
Madica, the Africa-focused investment programme affiliated with Flourish Ventures, led the round. Catalyst Fund, which first invested in Bekia in 2023, also participated in the round, alongside Dakar-based Jambaar Capital.
The investment comes as Egypt works to increase its municipal recycling rate to 60% by 2027. The country produces about 60,000 tonnes of municipal waste each day. Much of this waste ends up in open dumps instead of recycling facilities. The recycling rate stood at about 37% in 2024.
Building a More Formal Recycling System
Bekia was founded in 2019 by Alaa Afifi, a Cairo University computer science graduate. The company started with a consumer app that allows households to book waste pickups. Collectors arrive at scheduled times, weigh the material and pay households based on published rates.
The company records each transaction, including the supplier, weight, material grade and payment. This creates a digital record in a sector where much of the collection process still operates informally.
“Egypt’s recycling sector has always worked, it just worked invisibly, on cash and trust, with no record of any of it,” said Afifi, Founder and CEO of Bekia. He said the company is building a software layer that gives collectors transaction histories, factories traceable supply and households a clearer understanding of the value of their waste.
Bekia has so far diverted more than 25,000 tonnes of waste from landfill and served more than 100,000 customers. About 97% of its customers are women, while more than 2,400 people earn through its network.
Turning Waste Data Into Business Value
At the end of October, Bekia plans to launch Bekia Next. The product will use the company’s collection data to produce verified CO₂-avoidance certificates for corporate clients using established international carbon accounting methods.
It will be Bekia’s first subscription-based product rather than a direct collection service.
Madica Head Emmanuel Adegboye said the company is using its understanding of Egypt’s waste sector to build a technology-driven ecosystem serving households, small businesses and large industrial waste producers.
Catalyst Fund Partner Maxime Bayen said Bekia has grown more than sevenfold since 2023 while developing a stronger B2B platform. Jambaar Capital Managing Partner July Andraous also pointed to the link between the company’s commercial growth and its environmental impact.
Bekia has reported enterprise retention above 95%. Its revenue comes from enterprise contracts, household collections and refurbished electronics, which began generating revenue in June 2026.
As reporting requirements increase for multinational companies operating in Egypt, Bekia expects demand to grow for services that can provide clear records of where collected waste ends up.
