Summer is well and truly done with, ladies and gentlemen, as the newsflow moves from a trickle to a shower at the beginning of the month. THE BIG STORIES TODAY SO FAR-#1 Egypt’s non-oil private sector shrank again in August, but at a slower pace than in July. The IHS Markit Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index recorded 49.8 in August, up from 49.1 in July, but still below the 50 mark that separates contraction from expansion. Firms recorded a surge in purchasing activity in August off the back of an uptick in demand, as well as growing concern that rising raw material prices could keep income muted down the line.#2 Four Egyptian startups have secured USD 125k each in seed funding in June, July and August in funding rounds all led by US accelerator Y combinator, Magnitt reports. The startups include Cairo-based delivery service ShipBlu, ins. marketplace amenli, SaaS startup Pylon and online auto-marketplace Odiggo, which had recently secured USD 2.2 mn funding. The other MENA startups funded include the Moroccan Chari and Freterium.#3 ElSewedy Electric for Transmission and Distribution of Energy will build a substation for state-owned Electricity Company of Ghana, under the terms of a USD 16.7 mn EPC contract that will see the company implement the project over a two year period on a turnkey basis.^^ We’ll have chapter and verse on all three stories in Monday’s edition of EnterpriseAM.** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM: New covid restrictions incoming? The government could implement extra precautionary measures on public transport as covid cases rise, an unnamed government source told Al Shorouk, with back to school dates and entertainment venues also likely to be affected.East Med Gas forum is now official: The final step to setting up the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) and its Cairo HQ was cleared on Thursday after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi ratified its founding charterMore kashat for Kashat: The fintech startup has successfully closed a private bridge round for an undisclosed sum with participation from pan-African fund Launch Africa and Cairo Angels. The EGX has begun implementing the new mechanism for calculating closing share prices today. Approved by the EGX last month, a “pre-close auction” system will be introduced in a move designed to improve accuracy, increase trading volumes and boost foreign inflows into Egyptian shares. EGX shares will also be allowed to rise and fall by 20% during a single session, up from a previous 10%, while the limit on intraday share price movements on Nilex shares are set at 10% compared to the 5% limit previously.Want to get technical? EGX boss Mohamed Farid explained to us how the “pre-close auction” and “MVWAP” will work back in July. HAPPENING NOW- El Sisi talks vaccines for minors, covid-19 fourth wave: Egypt could start providing vaccines to children under the age of 18 at schools once the vaccine gets approved for use by minors in Egypt, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said in his speech at the Abwab Al Kheir event today, which focuses on supporting local charities (watch, runtime: 15:40). He urged people to continue to adhere to precautionary measures and register for vaccines, especially as the threat of the fourth wave looms.Meanwhile, the Health Ministry received 525k doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and in cooperation with the African Export-Import Bank, the ministry announced in a statement. This is the country’s second batch of the single-shot vaccine, after the Health Ministry received 260.6k doses last month through the African Union.THE BIG STORY ABROAD- It was surprisingly a mixed bag in the foreign press, with no one story topping coverage abroad. US-based publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post are looking at security in light of Afghanistan and 9/11. THE BIG BUSINESS STORY ABROAD- Saudi Telecom’s internet-services arm is seeking to raise up to USD 966 mn in a planned IPO in Riyadh, according to Bloomberg. Arabian Internet and Communications Services Company will sell 24 mn shares, representing 20% of the company’s share capital, they said in a disclosure last week. The company has set a price range between SAR 136 and SAR 151 per share. While a date for the IPO has not yet been set, the listing received approval from Saudi’s Capital Market Authority and the subscription period for individual investors will run from 19-21 September.This is the latest in a series of listings on the Tadawul index, as it increasingly becomes an IPO hotspot, following the listing of Tanmiah Food, Theeb Rent A Car, and AlKhorayef Water & Power Technologies this year. Saudi renewable energy giant ACWA Power also announced their listing plans on the Saudi stock exchange a few days ago, and is reportedly hoping to raise more than USD 1 bn. Get Enterprise daily The roundup of news and trends that move your markets and shape corporate agendas delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe here 🗓 CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR- Conference season is back with a fury this month, with a number of conferences set to take place this week alone: The Arab Security Conference kicked off today at the Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo, Egypt. The cybersecurity conference will run until Tuesday. Euromoney Conferences will host the GlobalCapital Sustainable and Responsible Capital Markets Forum 2021, featuring Vice Minister of Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk, on Tuesday. The conference will run until Wednesday. The Egy Health Expo will also take place on Tuesday at the Al Manara International Conference.The International Cooperation Ministry is hosting its inaugural two-day Egypt-International Cooperation Forum (ICF) this Wednesday.The week wraps up with DevOpsDays Cairo 2021 organized by ITIDA and the Software Engineering Competence Center in cooperation with DXC Technology, IBM Egypt and Orange Labs. The event will take place this Thursday. Key news triggers remaining in the first two weeks of September: Foreign reserves: The central bank will release foreign reserves figures for August sometime this week.Inflation: Inflation data for August will drop this week.Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to review interest rates on Thursday, 16 September. International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) CEO Hani Sonbol will visit Cairo in the coming days to discuss financing Egyptian development projects, the cabinet said in a statement. Egypt is waiting on the disbursal of around USD 1.1 bn in financing from the corporation which was signed in JanuaryIt’s Labor Day weekend in the United States and Canada, so markets will be closed tomorrow, including the New York and Toronto stock exchanges and the Nasdaq.Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- It’s a little bit warmer (two degrees warmer to be precise) until midweek. During the day, the mercury will max out at 37°C, and will drop to 23°C at night. Over in Sahel, you can expect highs of 31°C during the day and lows of 22°C at night.

Speed Medical has landed some EGP 1.57 bn in financing from EM-focused alternative investment outfit Global Emerging Markets (GEM) in an agreement inked between the two firms yesterday, according to a joint press release. Neither party was immediately available to answer questions.The funds will be extended under a “share subscription facility” on a 36-month term. Our take is that this is effectively a convertible debt-for-equity arrangement: Speed can draw down funds on an as-needed basis, with GEM getting shares in Speed for every EGP Speed draws. This type of financing is “potentially lower cost and less dilutive … as the company controls the timing and amount of each drawdown,” Speed Chairman Mahmoud Lasheen said in the statement.How much of Speed could GEM get if Speed calls the full facility? It’s really not clear — the press release does not specify a pricing mechanism for the equity, so it’s not clear whether the price at which the drawn equity would convert into newly issued shares is at yesterday’s price, a future price, a trailing average…Speed said it would use the financing for its “aggressive expansion plans,” including for acquisitions and new ventures, as well as to consolidate its existing bank debt, with a separate disclosure (pdf) saying the funding will help Speed “pay off the banks’ loans in full.” Lasheen added that the facility should allow Speed to start issuing dividends “commencing in the coming year.”But not for the now dead-in-the-water Prime Speed acquisition: In an unusually frank regulatory filing in late August, Speed Medical announced it was backing away from its potential 100% acquisition of Prime Speed.Speed Medical will still need to secure the approval of the company’s board of directors and general assembly before the GEM transaction is finalized.GEM is a Luxembourg-based private investment group worth USD 3.4 bn that specializes in emerging-markets and has made transactions in over 70 countries.

Odiggo lands seven-figure USD seed funding, plans Nasdaq IPO: Egyptian auto startup Odiggo has secured USD 2.2 mn in seed finance as part of the Y Combinator 2021 summer batch, TechCrunch reports. 500 Startups, Plug and Play Ventures, and a number of regional VCs including Seedra Ventures and LoftyInc Capital joined Y Combinator in the round.An IPO on the biggest tech exchange in the world will help it go global: The company wants to go public on the Nasdaq by 2024, co-founder Ahmed Nasser tells Enterprise. It has ambitions of becoming the MENA region’s first USD 100 bn auto company.Swvl became the first Egyptian company to announce a Nasdaq listing last month. The transport app will go public in the US through a merger with US SPAC Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital in an agreement that values the company at around USD 1.5 bn.What’s Odiggo? Co-founded by Ahmed Omar and Ahmed Nasser in late 2019, the tech startup operates an app that allows drivers to connect with suppliers and service providers near them. In return for using its app, Odiggo charges companies 20% commission on every transaction.New tech, new staff: The company plans to use the funding to further develop its product and integrate new technologies, Nasser told Enterprise. It will also expand its team in Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.And it has big expansion plans: The company launched in Egypt and has since expanded to Dubai. Its founders said in June that it is now targeting Riyadh and other GCC countries as part of its regional expansion plans. And following the latest funding round, it's looking beyond MENA. “Once we master the region, we’re going to go for the global competition,” Nasser said.IN OTHER STARTUP-RELATED NEWS-Arab Bank has launched its fintech accelerator program in Egypt, the bank said in a statement (pdf). Initially launched in Jordan in 2018, the “AB Accelerator” program will now invest in early-stage Egyptian fintech startups as well as companies involved in other related technology verticals, such as cybersecurity and AI to help them scale their business across the MENA region. Companies can apply to join the program here.

Cairo-headquartered startup accelerator Flat6Labs has reached a USD 7.4 mn first close on a USD 20 mn seed fund targeting companies in Jordan. The Jordan Seed Fund will invest in early-stage startups in ICT, software solutions, education, healthcare, digital content, manufacturing, renewable energy, agriculture, big data, and fintech, according to a press release (pdf). Limited partners in the first close include the International Finance Corporation, Jordan’s Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund, Beyond Capital, Bank Al-Etihad, and GMS Ventures and Investments.The fund will make investments of JOD 50k (USD 70.5k) and could also do follow-on rounds worth as much as JOD 120k. It’s looking to make 12-16 investments per year for the next five years. Flat6Labs has assets under management of more than USD 85 mn and has made investments in more than 320 companies. You can apply for investment from the Jordan Seed Fund here.IN OTHER STARTUP NEWS- Egyptian automotive tech startup Odiggo has expanded to Dubai as part of a push to enter the GCC and tap what it says is a USD 61 bn auto parts and accessories market in MENA, co-founders Ahmed Nasser and Ahmed Omar told Arabian Business. Saudi Arabia is “soon to follow,” they added. Odiggo — which launched in Egypt in 2019 — connects car owners with providers of automotive parts and services for a cheaper, less-timely, and contact-free alternative to traditional automotive care.

INVESTMENT WATCH- Odiggo receives USD 180k Saudi investment: Egyptian e-commerce platform Odiggo has received USD 180k of investment from an unnamed Saudi investor, taking the value of the company to USD 1.25 mn, according to an emailed statement (pdf). Odiggo connects customers to Egyptian car parts suppliers and service providers.