Egyptian Funeral Services Startup SOKNA Closes $1 Million Funding


End-to-end funeral service (E2E) companies have been springing up in Africa recently and the continent’s emerging middle class is one of the reasons why.

E2E funeral services provide families with a full set of products and services, from choosing a coffin to transporting the deceased from the funeral home to burial or cremation, usually within 24 hours of death.

SOKNA, an Egyptian firm that provides end-to-end funeral services to commemorate the departed and make the process easier for their families, has raised $1 million in a seed round led by major regional and international investors.

 

Mentors Fund, SBX Capital, ACE & Company, and Kabnoury Ventures are among the investors, as are a group of highly strategic angel investors led by Onsi Sawiris, Co-founder and Managing Partner of HOF Capital in New York, Dr. Khaled AlMutabagani from Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Sadek El Sewedy and Farouk Kadous of ElSewedy Family Capital, Hisham Halbouny, Partner at London-based Mansour Capital.

According to Onsi Sawiris, SOKNA’s team performs with an unusual combination of compassion and tech-fueled efficiency. For far too long, Egypt’s funeral business has been stigmatized and fractured. The company feels it has all of the components necessary to significantly disrupt this market, and it is excited to support them as they pursue their goals.

According to Ahmed Gaballah, Founder and CEO of SOKNA, “With this fresh funding and the fantastic set of partners who have joined the startup, it is ready to scale across the country and be able to serve more families during the tough moments of mourning loved ones.”

As a mission-driven organization, the company always has it’s ‘why’ in mind: to enable people to concentrate on the goodbyes rather than the paperwork and to honor leaving souls and their families by removing the logistical agony of those moments.

Since its introduction in late 2020, the firm has experienced fast growth, more than tripling in size in the last year alone.

SOKNA currently has operational ties with 20 hospitals and corporations in Greater Cairo, has over 70 vendor partners, and has performed over 2,500 funerals.

The firm’s employment has grown to include more than 50 full-time employees who provide a full range of professional funerary services from start to finish.

SOKNA offers assistance with releasing burial licenses and paperwork, body processing, cemetery set-up, transportation, hall and condolences service bookings, obituaries, bespoke sadaqa handouts, and post-loss support, among other things.

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ACE & CompanyMentors FundSBX Capital

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