Sylndr Raises $15.7M to Revolutionize Egypt’s Used Car Market with Financing and Services

Sylndr, a Cairo-based startup, has successfully raised $15.7 million to broaden its footprint beyond online used car sales into auto financing, servicing, and dealer tools. Founded in 2021 by Omar El Defrawy and Amr Mazen, former executives in Egypt’s food delivery and e-commerce sectors, Sylndr initially focused on buying used cars directly from consumers, refurbishing them, and reselling with warranties and money-back guarantees. This approach addressed the prevalent trust issues in Egypt’s largely informal used car market.

Egypt’s vehicle market is rapidly growing yet remains under-digitized, with over 6 million cars on the road and a used car market valued at approximately $10 billion. The government’s 2021 ban on used car imports has intensified demand for domestic vehicles, pushing prices to align with the exchange rate and creating an environment rife with informal transactions and buyer risk. Sylndr’s platform formalizes this market by standardizing inspections, pricing, financing, and ownership transfers.

The latest funding round, led by Development Partners International’s Nclude Fund with participation from Algebra Ventures and Nclude, includes fresh equity and previously undisclosed seed financing. In addition, Sylndr secured nearly $10 million in debt financing from local banks over the past year, bringing total capital raised to over $30 million since its 2021 launch. This financial backing supports Sylndr’s expansion into three new verticals:

• Sylndr Swift: A digital auto financing product that connects buyers with banks and underwriters, offering financing approvals in under 10 minutes without lending from Sylndr’s balance sheet.
• Sylndr Plus: Provides inspections, maintenance, and servicing for cars sold on the platform, enhancing post-sale customer experience and vehicle reliability.
• Al-Ajans: A dealer-to-consumer marketplace enabling third-party dealers to list and sell cars with Sylndr managing inspections, ownership transfers, and payments.

All three verticals are integrated into a single mobile app, creating a seamless one-stop solution for buying, financing, and managing car ownership. This integration not only improves customer convenience but also helps dealers digitize operations and increase efficiency. Sylndr’s revenue is now evenly split between direct consumer sales and B2B transactions with dealers, with expectations that financing and servicing will contribute up to 60% of gross profit within two years.

Sylndr’s strong infrastructure—comprising vehicle inspections, refurbishment capabilities, and partnerships with banks—creates significant barriers to entry for competitors. While other regional platforms like Contactcars, OLX, and Nigeria-based Autochek have similar offerings, Sylndr’s comprehensive end-to-end solution uniquely positions it as Egypt’s largest used car trading company by volume and value. Unlike many startups that use Egypt as a launchpad to the Gulf, Sylndr plans to deepen its presence domestically, capitalizing on the country’s growing demand for formalized, trustworthy vehicle transactions.

Ashley Lewis, Managing Partner at DPI Venture Capital, highlights Sylndr’s role in building the digital backbone of mobility in Egypt by integrating commerce, credit, and technology to overcome longstanding barriers of access, trust, and financing. This investment reflects growing confidence in Egypt’s tech ecosystem, with DPI also backing other digital finance and proptech startups in the region.