Egypt’s Si-Ware Systems aspires to be the region’s first deep tech unicorn

Egypt’s Si-Ware Systems aspires to be the region’s first deep tech unicorn

In late January, Si-Ware Systems founders told Zawya in an exclusive interview that the recent funding round was led by the Cairo-based Sawari Ventures and that Egypt Ventures was a major contributor.Since its inception in 2004, Si-Ware has raised a total of $19 million in funding.  With bootstrapping over the years, founders have also been able to raise another $20 million from the company's side business in microchip design.Hesham Haddara, the company's CEO and co-founder, noted that this is very rare in a Silicon Valley company, where startups are purely funded by VCs. “A side business is widely seen as a waste of time and resources. But the situation in our region is very different from that in the Silicon Valley.”A veteran microelectronics engineer and former professor at Ain Shams University's school of engineering, Haddara has been disappointed by the reluctance of local and regional investors to inject cash in deep-tech business models. “My life mission has been to develop the electronics industry in Egypt. We have come a long way, but we are still facing many challenges. Deep-tech needs more VC funding and better legislation to facilitate operations and logistics.” Early days  Si-Ware Systems first started selling microchip designs to