Public (Nasdaq: SWVL); exited most markets; faced delisting
Live · SWVL· NasdaqCM
as of 2026-09-17
$4.43▼ 44.21% today
≈ $84 Million market cap · −94.4% from peak
The rise & fall
6 moments · 2017–2023
The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2017
🌱
2017
Founded in Cairo
Mostafa Kandil and his co-founders start selling bus seats by app, then take the model across emerging markets from a new Dubai base.
TechCrunch
2021
🦄
2021
The Middle East's first tech unicorn
A $1.5B SPAC deal with Queen's Gambit Growth Capital crowns Swvl the region's first unicorn.
TechCrunch
Mar 2022
📈
Mar 2022
The peak: rings the Nasdaq bell at $1.5B$1.5B
The merger closes and Swvl lists in New York — the slide starts almost immediately.
PRNewswire
2022
2022
Retreat from seven countries
Winds down Pakistan, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Kenya, Jordan and Germany as the cash burns.
Wamda
2022
💔
2022
Slips out of the club
Shares drop about 95% within six months of listing; by November the company is worth ~$53M and fielding Nasdaq delisting warnings.
TechCrunch
2022–23
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–23
Employee reviews from the slide blamed breakneck expansion with no profitability plan, and described layoff waves that landed overnight with no warning — with ex-staff saying they chased legally owed severance for months afterward.
Today
Today
Still in the club — and still trading
Live · SWVL · NasdaqCMas of 2026-09-17
$4.43▼ 44.21% today≈ $84M cap · −94.4% from peak
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Swvl, founded in Egypt and headquartered in Dubai, ran app-based mass transit across emerging markets and was hailed as the Middle East's first tech unicorn. It listed on Nasdaq in March 2022 via a $1.5B SPAC merger — then slid sharply almost immediately, its shares down about 95% within six months as it exited Pakistan, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Kenya, Jordan and Germany and faced repeated delisting warnings.
Source: TechCrunch / Wamda / PRNewswire ($1.5B SPAC merger with Queen's Gambit Growth Capital March 2022, the first Middle East unicorn; shares -95% to ~$53M by Nov 2022; wound down Pakistan, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Kenya, Jordan, Germany; Nasdaq delisting warnings)
