Cairo-based Pravica, an email service provider (ESP) that utilises blockchain technology, has closed a pre-seed funding round of US$500,000 to help build its customer base, grow its team and add to its product.
Pravica, which was known as Dmails until it rebranded in March, was founded in April of last year by Mohamed Hussein Abdou, who had noticed emails oftene lacked data security.
He successfully developed an innovative platform based on blockchain technology which guarantees the highest security standards for corporates communicating via emails and other communication tools.
Pravica is now poised for growth after securing US$500,000 in pre-seed investment in a round led by 500 Startups with the participation of Modus Capital and DYRES Ventures. With the funding, Pravica plans to aggressively build its customer base, expand its team, and accelerate product expansion by developing additional private communication tools.
“We are excited to have such strong investors who recognize Pravica’s early achievements, are confident in our growth potential, and actively support our vision and values. We look forward to working closely with them and achieving our short-term and long-term goals,” Abdou said.
“As the first blockchain ESP in the MENA region, at Pravica, our strategy is to guarantee the user, full data privacy. Developing a decentralised network on blockchain was my passion and I have been able to successfully make that dream come true. With the new funding, we hope to further expand our offering with several value-added options and grow our footprint.”
Sharif El-Badawi, managing partner for MENA at 500 Startups, said the company was excited to have invested in Pravica, which he said has great potential for growth.
“Running email systems on blockchain technology like that of Pravica is becoming increasingly imperative to ensure data privacy and security. As Mohamed and his team work to deepen their platform capabilities, we look forward to supporting them as they cement their position as leaders in this blockchain space,” he said.
Modus Capital managing partner Kareem Elserafi said the Pravica platform provided a new type of value-add to corporates he said was both unprecedented and in notable demand.
“Its new functionality in addition to security measures gives enterprises a much higher level of control over their data, something they constantly struggle with. The team has produced incredible results thus far and we are confident they will continue on this upward trajectory in the coming years,” he said.
