Egypt’s Mintrics is raising a $500k funding round earmarked for US expansion

Egyptian social video analytics platform Mintrics is currently busy closing a $500 000 investment fund and intends to use the funding to expand to the US, Mintrics growth hacker Adel Heikal has revealed.

While it’s not clear which investors are participating in the round or when the round will be concluded, Heikal explained in an email yesterday (28 May) that the investment will be used to set up a sales office in the US.

The news follows an announcement by the startup on Sunday (26 May) that it had been accepted into the 11th cohort of US-based Blue Startups‘ accelerator programme.

Mintrics was founded in 2016 by Tarek Nasr, Tarek Shalaby and Muhammad El Zahlan

Mintrics was selected for the programme along with six other startups, namely Via, Junction AI, Instant Teams, DriVR AI, Cruisio and ChatENG. Mintrics becomes the first startup from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to have been accepted in the Hawaii accelerator.

In a call for applications for the 13-week acceleration programme earlier this year, Blue Startups said it invests up to $350 000 in funding in each startup selected for the programme.

Mintrics was launched in 2016 by veteran digital professionals CEO Tarek Nasr (picture above, left) and Tarek Shalaby, as well as CTO Muhammad El Zahlan (pictured above, right).

The startup, which has offices in Cairo and Dubai, helps video publishers to understand how their content is performing. It also gathers recommendations for publishers on how to enhance future videos, spot latest trends and get detailed analytics and insights on how their competition is performing utilising machine-learning algorithms.

Using this information publishers are able to double their core performance metrics like viewership and engagement while optimising their production and distribution spend.

The startup, which employs a team of 10 employees, currently services 18 clients which include Discovery Networks, Youtube and the Dubai Future Foundation.

US market

Commenting in a statement on Sunday (26 May), Nasr said the decision to apply for the accelerator programme was “an easy one”.

“Our core market is based in North America and this provides us a chance to set-up in that market, furthermore the Blue Startups programme is one of the most beneficial and reputable programs in the US, we are ecstatic to get the opportunity to take part,” said Nasr.

Blue Startups managing partner Chenoa Farnsworth said the accelerator was “excited” to work with the startup on its US-market entry strategy.

Between 9 and 11 July, Blue Startups’ 11th cohort will explore the Asian startup scene at the Rise Conference which takes place in Hong Kong.

Mintrics’ investors include Dubai-based Numu Capital which invested an undisclosed amount in the startup in 2017.

In 2017, Mintrics won the Start Up Alley award at Dubai Lynx 2017 show. The startup is also an alumni of the MassChallenge Switzerland accelerator programme where it was one of 70 startups selected from an applicant pool of over 2300 applicants.

Read more: Egyptian startup Mintrics scores investment from Dubai-based fund

Editor’s note (29 May 2019): Mintrics growth hacker Adel Heikal subsequently told Ventureburn that Blue Startups is participating in the $500 000 funding round, and that the startup is also in talks with angel investors in the US and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Heikal added that Mintrics will likely conclude the round in two months.

Featured image, left to right: Mintrics founders CEO Tarek Nasr and CTO Muhammad El Zahlan (Supplied)