Transport start-up Swvl, based in Dubai and Cairo, is studying a possible listing on the Egyptian stock Exchange (EGX) in 2022/2023, its chief financial officer Youssef Salem told Reuters on Thursday. In July, Swvl announced a merger with U.S.-based Queen's Gambit Growth Capital that will enable the company to list on the U.S. Nasdaq stock exchange. The company plans to list on Nasdaq in the fourth quarter of 2021, Salem added. Its capital of over $100 million will increase to $550 million after it completes a merger with Queen's Gambit at the end of the year. Founded in Egypt in 2017, Swvl operates a digital platform that offers passengers to book and pay for rides with participating buses along fixed routes. It currently operates in 10 cities across six countries and makes more than 3 million trips per month, a number it aims to increase to 2 million per day by 2025. The company expects to turn its first profit in 2024 as it expands into new countries, Salem said. "Swvl will turn profitable in 2024 after investments and operating costs of about $136 million. We then aim to earn more than $170 million in 2025," Salem further told Reuters. Swvl's administrative offices are located in Dubai, while its main operations in Cairo. The company aims to expand to 30 cities across 20 countries by 2025, including in southern and western Europe, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, Salem noted. It also aims to expand into other activities such as logistics, advertising and financial services beginning in 2023, he said. This should help to boost Swvl's revenue to $800 million in 2024 from a projected $79 million this year and $26 million in 2020 and $100,000 in 2017, Salem said. The company expects revenue to exceed $1 billion in 2025. The company has 600 employees, 400 of whom are in Egypt, with a network of 5,000 buses, 3,000 of which are in Egypt.
