Egyptian start-up Shatablee raises $1.2m amid expansion push

The company lets customers select interior designs and build customised packages with a real time budget calculator

Moustafa Amer, founder and chief executive of Shatablee. Photo: Shatablee

Egyptian start-up Shatablee raised $1.2 million in new funding, which is expected to help it to expand its operations and its product portfolio.

Founded in 2021, Shatablee is a digital finishing and financing platform. It lets customers select their own interior designs and build customised packages with a real time budget calculator.

The new funds will be used to scale operations as the company seeks to “optimise and fully digitise the interior finishing journey” the start-up said. The company did not disclose the source of funding.

“The sheer size and fragmentation of the market play to our advantage,” said Moustafa Amer, founder and chief executive of Shatablee.

“We believe that Shatablee is best suited to address the asymmetries faced by customers as well as professionals in the market, be it the lack of financing, the prolonged time to deliver that may take up to 12 months, the limited price transparency or the inadequate quality of houses created across many segments, specially within [the] gated communities.”

In 2020, the real estate industry contributed nearly $62 billion to the Egyptian national economy, while the design and build industry accounts for 30 per cent, said Shatablee, citing official data.

Shatablee intends to digitally transform the traditional home finishing process. It offers solutions enabling home owners in gated communities to have access to cost effective quotes with different financial solutions under one digital platform.

Through Shatablee, users start by selecting their unit type to browse through a gallery of design packages. They can customise the designs for each space within their unit to their preference, choosing from financing plans, and submit their order.

Once the order is confirmed, Shatablee starts the build phase and completes the entire process in 90 days. Shatablee also enables digital payments through its partnership with financial institutions.

"We leverage a wide base of suppliers that helps us source the best materials … [there is a] team of designers, architects and technicians, driven by the latest resource planning technologies, who work to demonstrably deliver the best quality and customer experience with reduced costs and time," Mr Amer said.