Swvl, revolutionising bus transport in Egypt

As I wait anxiously at AUC Avenue at 9:30am for my bus ride, I get a phone call from an unknown number; it is the bus captain from Swvl (pronounced swivel), a fast-growing bus ride-sharing application in Egypt. Swvl uses vehicles rented from tourism companies, coupled with online technology, to offer a bus transportation service from a company that owns no fleet, the company’s CEO and co-founder Mostafa Eissa Kandil tells Ahram Online. The company announced on Monday that it closed an $8 million Series A round of funding by regional venture fund BECO Capital, Africa-based investor DiGAME and global venture capital fund Silicon Badia. I cross the street to ride the empty white mini-bus, which has no Swvl sign, but only a “download, book, ride” sign in the Swvl pink punch colour, in what feels like a private bus rental to take me to Maadi. The new bus service is only a little over one-year-old, founded in March 2017 by former Careem market launcher Kandil, along with Mahmoud Nouh and Ahmed Sabbah. My EGP 23 line is one of 200 fixed routes currently offered by the startup in Cairo and Alexandria.